Bleeding Out
by Genevieve Kelly
Summary: This story is my take on how Evelyn, Bobby, Jeremiah, and Angel, come to know and love Jack, the youngest of the four brothers, and how he comes to be taken in by them after suffering through so many bad things in his life. Most of it takes place before the movie, while the beginning and the end takes place afterward. Story and its title are inspired by a song from Imagine Dragons.
1. Chapter 1

Bleeding Out

Chapter One

Bobby, the oldest of the four Mercer brothers, having recently been cut down to three, sat down on the snow covered ground with his back leaning up against the brand new gravestone which attested once and for all that their youngest brother was indeed dead, despite how much Bobby kept praying that Jack's death was nothing more than a terrible nightmare he couldn't shake from his mind. Even though he was frozen from the cold after sitting like that for almost an hour and soaked to his skin, Bobby felt numb as he took a swig of beer from the glass bottle in his hand once again as he stared out ahead of him at nothing, having spaced out completely lost in his thoughts. When he went to take another sip and found that the bottle was empty, Bobby leaned forward as he hurled it hard against the tree that stood in front of him, beside the grave belonging to their mother.

Finally, Bobby spoke up as he leaned back again, speaking to no one except for to his brother, even though the older man didn't actually believe Jack could hear him, saying, "I probably should have grabbed more than one, huh? Ma wouldn't be too happy to learn that I've started drinking so much again like I used to, but I think she would understand. After all, I was the one that got my kid brother killed."

He paused for a few minutes as he felt several tears fall down his cheeks and almost freeze until he quickly wiped them away, then he softly, wearily continued, "God Jackie, why'd you have to go and answer the door? I realize that our argument that afternoon must have really bothered you, especially since we were actually blaming Jerry of having something to do with Ma getting killed, and it's no wonder that you got up, but… Damn it, I shouldn't be blaming you. You getting shot was my fault, not yours. I was the one who started the war against Sweet. You kept asking me to quit being such a hothead. I didn't listen. I should have. God, I'm so sorry, Jack. I'm sorry that I didn't protect you."

"What are you talkin' about, man?" a voice suddenly called out from behind him, startling Bobby enough to cause him to jump as he swiftly turned around to look for the source of the voice, strangely finding his little brother standing there lighting a cigarette, just as he had seen his mother once he had finally accepted she was gone too.

"Jack, you can't really be here?" Bobby replied as he stared at him while Jack blew smoke from his mouth, then moved to sit on top of the gravestone.

The youngest smiled only slightly and then answered, "I'm not, but you're drunk off your ass right now, so me coming to you like this is easy. I just hope you can remember what I'm about to tell you later when you finally sober up. You always protected me, Bobby, just like Angel and Jerry did. If anyone's to blame for me getting killed that day, it was Victor Sweet. You know that."

Bobby scoffed and shook his head, then responded, "You're nothing more than my conscience trying to play games with me. I never listened to it before, I'm sure as hell am not going to start now."

"Okay then, think of me as whatever you want," Jack replied sadly. "But try to think back to when we all first came together. I was real messed up back then. None of you knew me, but from the moment we met, you all became my protectors without knowing anything about me and as you've said so many times, I was a real degenerate bastard, way more than I was, even before I died."

"Weren't we all?" the oldest stated in frustration as he tried to focus as the illusion of his brother asked of him, despite his drunken stupor.

Seven years ago…

Evelyn and Bobby walked inside the corner store where they usually shopped for most things such as groceries and supplies. Winter had begun with a snowstorm that knocked out the power throughout a lot of Detroit, including at the Mercer household, and when it was finally over, the kind foster mother told her three boys that she needed to go out in order to restock their food supply. Despite being busy with hockey, Bobby was the only one of the boys who finally agreed to join his mother, to help her out with the bags, while Jeremiah told her he had plans to go out with his girlfriend and Angel simply refused to go outside in the cold. Evelyn didn't argue with them. Instead, she just smiled and followed her oldest son out to the car, then Bobby drove her.

Not long into their shopping, Bobby had separated from their mother to get a few things for himself, while Evelyn continued gathering the groceries needed. While he was still off on his own, Evelyn reached for some toothpaste to replace the near empty tube left at home and as she did, she spotted a tall young man wearing nothing more than worn out sneakers with laces that were frayed, a ragged pair of jeans, and a baggy black sweatshirt with a hood that was pulled up over his head, as he nervously reached out for a toothbrush, then quickly shoved it into one of his pockets, which she could tell were stuffed with other things as well, not noticing that Evelyn was now watching him sternly.

The young man was about to reach out for something else, when he suddenly became startled as Evelyn spoke up saying, "It is never right to steal, young man. Surely your parents would have taught you that."

He quickly turned to face her, but said nothing as he stared at her with wide, eerie eyes that frightened Evelyn to her core, seeing a look of pure terror upon what she could now see was his bruised and battered face and before she could say anything more, the young man bolted and ran out of the store. Evelyn stared after him as sadness swept over her, wishing that she had said something different, anything else that might not have scared the boy off.

Bobby finally rejoined her and upon seeing the distressed look on his mother's face, he asked worryingly, "Ma, are you alright? What happened?"

"I am not really sure," she answered sadly. "There was a boy in here only a minute ago, stuffing his pockets full with anything that he could carry I think, including a toothbrush."

"You've stopped a few kids from stealing from here," Bobby responded in confusion. "So, what's the big deal?"

Evelyn turned and looked up at her son as he moved closer and replied, "That poor child was terribly frightened, Bobby. And it was obvious that he's been badly beaten and is half-starved."

Bobby shook his head sadly and then answered, "That's a real shame, Ma, but there's nothing more you could have done. There are plenty of fu… messed up kids in this world, in and out of the system. And you've helped a hell of lot of us, but even you know that you can't help everyone."

"I do realize that, sweetheart, but it doesn't help me to feel any less disheartened to see a child in so much pain," she replied dejectedly. "And thank you for holding back using that kind of foul language around me. Did you get everything you needed?"

"Yeah, I think so," her oldest said as they headed to the front of the store. "If not, I can come back after practice tonight. Or maybe you can order Angel off his ass to come. Sorry, Ma. I'm really trying."


	2. Chapter 2

Bleeding Out

Chapter Two

After running away from the corner store as far and as fast as he could, the young thief finally stopped and collapsed on the sidewalk, down on his hands and knees as he struggled to catch his breath. He felt sick, but he focused to shove the feelings aside, knowing that it was most likely because he had run hard after not eating for almost two days and what little he had were the few things he had managed to steal, either from the market, or the scraps from off of the kitchen table when he had been forced to clean up after those he lived with. After a few minutes he sat up, then shuffled over to sit beside a dumpster in an alleyway a few blocks from the foster home where he was currently living, though if truth be told, he was hardly there at all as he tried to avoid being there as often as he could. When he was certain he was alone and unnoticed by those that passed by the alley, he slowly began to eat the little food he had stolen before he had been forced to run by the old woman scolding him for being the thief that he had become.

What he had grabbed wasn't much, a half of a turkey sandwich, two bags of chips, and a small bottle of milk. He savored it for as long as he could and when he finished, the young man slowly stood back on his feet, then continued walking the rest of the way to the foster house. He dreaded going inside, but knew that if he didn't soon, he would end up getting another beating. Unfortunately, whether he was late or not, didn't matter any, as the foster father suddenly stormed up behind the boy as soon as he walked inside and slapped him hard across the back of his head his head multiple times, before finally shoving him down to the floor and continued to advance on him as he struggled to back away from the man towering over him.

"You little bastard!" the man cursed angrily as he reached down again and grabbed the young man by his front of his sweatshirt and pulled him back up to his feet while yanking the hoodie from off his head, then shoved him backward again against the wall behind him. "I thought I warned you, Jack! I told you that you weren't to leave this house before you finished cleaning up your mess from last night. Didn't I tell you?"

"I… I cleaned it…" Jack responded weakly, terrified of the man's reaction upon hearing of his failure. "I swear… the blood, it does… doesn't come… out. Neither does the other… messes. I tried."

The man smacked Jack harder across his face once again, then grabbed him by his throat and chin to force the teenager to look at him as he leaned in until their faces were touching and replied more quietly, though with just as much cruelty, "I don't want to hear excuses. I warned you, if you throw up because you can't handle me fucking you, then you have to be able to scrub your messes clean. I can't ever have my kids finding any more of your filth. Is that understood? Is that understood, Jack?"

Jack whimpered within the vile man's grasp, then answered weakly, "Ye…s."

"Yes what?" the man asked as his grip tightened. "Say it!"

"Yes Sir," Jack stated, tears forming in his eyes, as his foster father simply smiled and then leaned in closer as he rammed his tongue into Jack's mouth, kissing him for almost a minute while he reached down inside of his jeans to run his fingers along the inside of his thighs before finally releasing his hold on him and shoved him back down to the ground once again.

The man continued to tower over the young man as he reached over to the fridge and pulled out a can of beer, then after taking a big swig, he glared at Jack and smugly responded, "Good, now go and finish cleaning it up. You know that things would be easier on you if you would just cooperate with me for once and accept that you're good for nothing else. I wouldn't have to strap you in every night."

When the man finally walked away, Jack struggled to make his way back into his room, feeling nauseated by his foster father's cruel actions, then once he got inside and slammed the door close behind him, he collapsed down to the floor again as he broke down and cried. Jack finally managed to move as he went to the bathroom to grab the supplies to finish cleaning as he was ordered, even though he knew that the stains on his bed and on the floor of his room wouldn't ever come out fully. Once he finished the best that he could, Jack walked back inside his room and closed the door, but didn't lock it, knowing that if he did and the man or any of his actual kids that lived there as well tried to come in, he would receive another beating and it didn't take a whole lot for them to get angry with him. So Jack tried not to make things worse for himself if he could help it. It wasn't easy.

Jack sat down on the floor, then crawled over to one of the corners inside his room and carefully pulled back the thin carpet so that he could pull up the loose floorboard. Then he reached inside and grabbed a small box which he kept hidden from everyone. When he opened the lid, he pulled out a razor blade, a lighter, and a half smoked cigarette, the other half he had started earlier that morning, then climbed out onto the roof outside of his window, lit the stick, and smoked what was left of it in hope that the poison from it would help to erase for a short time the foulness put there almost nightly by that man pretending to be a father. Jack savored the cigarettes he had whenever he could get his hands on them, seeing as they were extremely difficult for a fourteen year old to get his hands on.

Once the cigarette was finally gone and his hands finally stopped shaking as hard as they were moments ago, the young man pulled the small blade from his pocket, stared at the dried blood that was smeared along its edge for several seconds, then pulled back the sleeve covering his left arm and looked down at the scars which already covered his wrists before finally running the blade gently across his skin as he sliced through to allow blood to drip out little by little, the drops trickling along his arm and into the snow piled up beside him while he stared off into nothing, having become numb to the sharp pain his self-torture caused. Jack proceeded with the same process across his right wrist. Jack had no idea how much time had passed when he suddenly snapped out of his trance upon hearing the three younger kids screaming joyfully as they ran off of the bus which had just dropped them off from school.

Before any of them could enter into his room for whatever reason they might, he quickly scrambled back inside, replaced his things back into the box, including the new toothbrush he had just stolen, and replaced it inside the floor as he covered it back up, then made up his bed in order to hide the thick leather straps the foster father had secured to it a few months after Jack had arrived at the house, just after the wife had died from cancer. It was just when he had finished that the oldest of the five kids living there, other than himself, suddenly banged his fists on his door to get Jack to come and open up.

When he did so, the eighteen year old glared at him as he mumbled, "Dad wants you to come out right now and start getting things ready for dinner. We're eating early because he's got his friends coming over tonight to watch the football game. Hurry up."

"What is it that I'm supposed to make?" Jack asked nervously, half expecting the older teenager to smack him upside the head. "I don't… I don't think there's much in the fridge."

"You better find something before Dad beats you again, Jack!" another of the younger kids replied loudly as he ran by and locked himself in the bathroom.

Jack nodded as he walked into the kitchen again, then started looking through the cupboards until he found a box of pasta. He pulled it down and then began to search through the fridge in hope that he'd be able to find some leftover sauce and when he did so, Jack pulled that out as well and found that he had what he needed to make the foster family spaghetti. The father figure walked into the kitchen again some time in the middle of him cooking to get another beer from the fridge, then ran his fingers playfully through Jack's wild hair, making Jack cringe, before stepping away from him and sitting down at the table to watch him while he drank. Jack learned early on that it took a lot for the man to actually get drunk, but knowing that he had friends that would be coming over later, it wouldn't be too long before that happened. Jack also knew that the more drunk the man was, the worse off his treatment of him would be once his kids were in bed asleep.

The man noticed the distant, frightened look on his foster child's face as he continued to prepare the food, then he spoke up saying coldly, "I know that you are thinking about possibly running away from me Jack. But do you really think that you can survive out there alone in this violent city and in this freezing weather? Forget it, you're stuck here with me until I'm done with you. Do you hear me? Do you?"

Upon receiving a kick to the back of his legs to snap him out of his daze, Jack finally turned around and looked at him as he answered despondently, "I hear you."

"Besides, no one else will ever want you," he said again. "Not now that you're a dirty little bastard. My kids will be going out later and they won't be home until late tomorrow. You and me will get to have some good fun tonight, which is why I'm going to let you eat dinner inside your room. I can't have you passing out on me again from the lack of food in your belly."

"Plea… please don't…. I can't do…" Jack begged fearfully until the man stood and moved close to him as he wrapped his hand tightly around his throat once again to cut him off.

He put his mouth right next to Jack's ear as he whispered cruelly, "You're going to do with me whatever I want you to and you are never again going to beg me to not touch you. Because if you do, I will beat you so hard you are going to beg me to kill you when I'm done. Now, go to your room and wait there for me to bring you your food. I will finish up in here."

The man kissed the boy's cheek and let go of him, then Jack quickly ran from the kitchen and into his room, slamming it closed behind him, not really caring that the head of this household might get angry, but the man only smiled and started to finish up what his foster kid had started, then he stated to himself, "The kid makes it too easy."


	3. Chapter 3

Bleeding Out

Chapter Three

"Ma, I'm off!" Bobby called out as he quickly finished gathering his things together, then looked over at his younger brother, Jeremiah who was preparing to go off to meet up with his girlfriend, Camille. "How long is it going to be before you actually ask the girl to marry you, huh Jer? You know you want to and God knows Ma wants you to."

"And what about you, Bobby?" the twenty-three year old asked as he looked at the older man smugly. "I know you can't stand her. Is it because she hates you too, or because you can't stand that I've been spending more time with her than with my brothers?"

Angel walked over to join them as he turned to the middle brother and answered, "I hate her because she's made you soft. You don't come out and help us cause trouble no more."

Jeremiah shook his head as he responded, "That's right, my trouble making days are behind me. I'm not like you two knuckleheads."

"I'm glad to know that at least one of my boys won't be causing me any trouble tonight," Evelyn replied amusingly upon stepping out of the kitchen and handed Bobby a small brown paper bag before he could leave the house.

"A bag lunch, Ma?" Bobby asked as he turned his head to look over at her quizzically. "What am I, twelve?"

The woman smiled at her oldest as she replied, "Just because you're twenty-seven and a grown man, doesn't mean that you don't need to eat more than just the few bites you had a few minutes ago. You all need a proper meal and seeing as I can't get you all to sit down together anymore, this is what you get."

Bobby leaned forward to kiss her on her cheek, then walked to the door to leave as he called back, "Thanks, Ma! Love you!"

"I take it that you're going to be eating with Camille tonight, Jerry honey?" she asked once Bobby left.

"Yeah, we've got a nice dinner planned," he answered as he too kissed his mother on her forehead, then started to walk out after Bobby to his own car. "Don't wait up for me, Ma."

When he too was gone, Evelyn finally turned to her twenty year old as she smiled and asked gently, "And what about you, Angel? What are your plans for this evening?"

He simply shrugged, then responded gruffly, "I don't really know, Ma. I was thinking about goin' to the basketball game down at the gym, but… I don't know. I'm not really in the mood for that no more."

"Well, I was thinking about maybe going out for a movie tonight," his mother replied as she moved to head back into the kitchen to finish the dishes which she had begun to wash before her sons left. "If you would like to come with me…"

"Actually, thanks Ma, but I think I will go down to that game after all," Angel quickly answered as he went to the coat hook by the door and pulled on his jacket before leaving.

Evelyn smiled as he rushed out the door, then turned back to the dishes and when she finished, she walked up the stairs to her room, pulled out a large file box for which she kept the files of the children she had placed in good homes, as well as those for which she had yet to place in the proper care, then she sat down on her bed and began to go through them. Her work was something she preferred to do whenever her boys were all out, which lately had become much more frequent, as they were growing up so fast.

The older woman loved her work as a foster mother and social worker, loved taking care of the boys and girls for however long was needed until she was able to put them were they would be safe, but sometimes her job bothered her more than she would ever admit fully to the three boys whom she was unable to find a good home for. They all had tough lives, as did many of the other children she had gotten to know, but at least most of them were wanted. Three delinquents, as most everyone called her boys, so far were not, which was why she had taken them in herself and made them her own. She loved them.

It wasn't long into reading the files of the children whose cases she was currently working on, that she suddenly thought back to earlier that afternoon in the corner store and remembered the lost, terrified look on that poor boy's face as he turned to her, then quickly took off as if he believed she was going to hurt him just as bad as whoever else had. Evelyn's heart wrenched for the young man, but she tried to push the thoughts of him aside and got back to work.

Meanwhile…

Bobby was driving toward the ice rink where he was anxious to play a game of hockey with several men on the league when it started snowing again, though thankfully not nearly as hard as it had days ago. He was listening to the low hum of the beat playing from his radio and driving sensibly along the streets of Detroit, when he all of a sudden slammed on his brakes and skidded roughly across the ice until he rammed into a light pole on the sidewalk to his left, then quickly looked out in front of him to see some kid struggle to get back onto his feet after nearly getting himself hit by the car. However, before he could run off completely, Bobby easily caught up to him and grabbed him by the hem of his baggy sweatshirt and pulled him back as the kid screamed and thrashed out wildly to try to break free, be it in fear or in pain, Bobby couldn't really tell.

Bobby held firmly, grabbing hold of the boys wrists to try to get him to settle down as he called out, "Hey, hey, hey! Easy kid, I'm not going to hurt you!"

The young man continued to struggle against the man's hold, Bobby seeing how terrified the kid was as his hood blew off in the wind showing what little of his face could be seen beneath the disheveled hair on top of his head, and shouted, "Please, let me go! Let me go!"

"Just calm down, will you?" Bobby tried again until the young man finally stopped fighting him and collapsed to the frozen, snow covered ground on his hands and knees as he began to cry weakly. "Look, I promise you, I'm not…"

"Hey you!" a cop suddenly shouted from behind the oldest Mercer as another shined their squad car's headlights on the apparent struggle going on before them. "What the hell is going on here?"

Bobby spun around to try to see ahead of him as he covered the top of his eyes to shield them from the bright light, and when the lights dampened, Bobby glared at the two cops as they moved toward the man and the kid cowering down on the street, then he responded coldly, "It's all right. I've got everything under control here. My friend here and me were just getting ready to have a chat. We're fine."

As the other cop moved closer to try to get a better look at the boy on his knees, recognition came to his eyes as he smiled and stated, "Jack? Well I'll be. What the hell are you doing out here in this kind of weather and without your jacket no less? You know your father is going to be very disappointed in you for running off again."

"Please, don't let them… please don't…" Jack tried to beg as he suddenly grabbed onto Bobby's leg and looked at the older man for the first time with fear-stricken eyes that made his heart plummet.

"That's enough of that kiddo," the cop interrupted as he grabbed hold of Jack by the back of his sweatshirt and roughly pulled him to his feet, making Bobby feel anger that he didn't exactly understand at the moment. "It's time to get you back home."

Bobby started to move toward the officer as he dragged the kid toward their car, but the man's partner stepped in the way and pushed him back a few feet as he glared at the cop and spoke up again saying coldly, "It's obvious that something bad is happening to that kid wherever it is you're taking him. Who is he and what fucking right do you have to drag him back there like this?"

The man replied smugly, "More right than you have to interfere. This is none of your business, so I suggest you move along before I have you arrested."

"On what charge?" Bobby asked angrily.

"Test me again and you will find out," the man growled and then walked off after his partner, leaving Bobby behind beside his own vehicle as he watched the two cops drive off with the young man sitting in the back seat like a common criminal.

A part of him wanted to drive after the two men to try to trail them back to wherever they were taking the kid, but Bobby realized that he couldn't risk getting in trouble right then. There were already two strikes against him. If he were to get arrested once more, he'd end up in prison for far more than just a few nights no matter how hard his mother worked to get him out. He also didn't know the kid at all, but seeing the wild fear on his battered face, the plea in eyes, Bobby couldn't shake the pit in in his stomach and knew that he couldn't just head to the rink any longer. Rather, he decided to go back home to speak with his mother, having realized that the kid may be the same kid she had seen earlier at the market.


	4. Chapter 4

Bleeding Out

Chapter Four

When the policemen arrived at the home of young man's foster family, the officer who recognized Jack earlier turned to his partner and said quietly, "Why don't you wait here? I'll talk to the kid's father. We've been friends a long time."

The other cop nodded and replied, "Fine, just try to hurry. It's freezing out here and I'd like to get back to the precinct so that I can clock out and head home."

"Don't worry, this won't take long," the first responded as he got out of the car, then reached into the back seat of their squad car and roughly dragged Jack out as the officer walked him back up to the front door of his house.

Jack struggled a little, but he knew that there was nothing he could do now, but remain quiet and take whatever punishment his foster father had in store for him. No doubt it would be far worse than whatever cruelty the man had planned for him before Jack tried to run. He realized that running was foolish, but he was terrified and he knew as he stared dreadfully at the door before it was opened that what was to happen to him inside was going to be far worse than anything done to him before.

"Don't worry so much, kid," the cop said quickly, feeling the young man trembling as he held tightly onto his shoulders, before his friend could open the door for them. "You're going to be just fine. Frank won't do anything too damaging. He likes you."

When the door finally opened, Frank glared angrily at Jack for several seconds before he turned to his old friend and spoke up saying, "I appreciate you bringing him back to me, Tom. You're welcome to join me and my friends if you'd like? We're in watching the game."

Tom shook his head as he answered, "No thanks, I told you before that I'm not interested in knowing any of the details of the things you do with this kid. Just keep a better reign on him, would you? Tonight was a close call. If my partner and I hadn't have found him when we did, then some tough guy who nearly ran him over with his car would have gotten his hands on him and who knows what Jack would have told him. If he escapes again, you might not be so lucky."

"Don't worry, he won't," the father figure replied cruelly as he looked back at his foster son, pulled him inside roughly by his hair holding onto him tightly, then closed the door on the cop and began to push Jack forward toward his room. "I told you not to run from me! I warned you that you would be punished, didn't I Jack? Didn't I?"

"Yes!" the young man responded gruffly as Frank led him through the living room past his friends while Jack struggled within his grasp, then the man shoved him down onto his bed and slammed the door closed behind him. "Please, don't…"

Frank quickly forced Jack all the way down against the mattress on his bed as he worked hard to bind him down with the leather straps while Jack struggled against him no matter how useless his struggle was, then shouted, "Hold still! You're only making this worse for yourself. How did you get out? Answer me!"

Jack finally settled down as the man finished buckling the last strap around his left ankle and once Frank was done, Jack turned his head toward his window as he whimpered, "My window, I jumped down from off the roof into a snowbank."

"I guess I'm going to have to fix that so that you can't break out again, won't I?" the man answered in frustration. "You missed your chance to eat. I came in to bring you your dinner earlier and you weren't anywhere to be found. I had to send my kids out to look for you before they headed off. Lucky Tom found you and called me to let me know. The kids are gone now. What should I do with you, mmm?"

"No… I can't…" Jack began to plead once more as Frank wrapped his hand gently around Jack's throat and leaned down as he was about to kiss him once again until he was interrupted by a knock at the door.

When Frank quickly stood to open it, he found one of the women he had invited over standing there and she looked between him and the young man strapped down as she smiled, then turned back to Frank and said softly, "So, this is the kid you've been telling us about. He's quite a looker. I realize you must have plans with him, but would you by any chance mind if I spend some time with him? I like them young and if it's punishment you want for him, I can provide it. Then, later you and I can have a go. What do you say, Frank?"

Jack laid his head back against his pillow in defeat and remained silent while tears trickled down his cheeks as he closed his eyes, then Frank smiled upon seeing the boy's anguish and turned back to the woman as he replied, "I suppose I can wait a bit longer. I was looking forward to this game anyhow and it would be rude to ignore the rest of my guests. Do what you want with him, but I want him still awake for me later."

"Of course," she responded smugly. "They're waiting for you out there. Let me know what the final score is, won't you?"

"I will," Frank answered, then looked back down at his foster child once more before finally leaving the woman alone with him, shutting the door behind him.

The woman walked over to the side of the bed and took a seat beside Jack as she reached out and gently ran her forefinger along the side of his face, then quickly used her thumbs to wipe away the tears that stained his cheeks, all while he kept his eyes closed as tightly as possible, not wanting to look at the vile woman. She smiled as she reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out a pocket knife, then released her hold on him for a moment long enough to pull open the sharpened blade inside the handle before returning her hand to touch the side of his face again as she turned it toward her so that he'd be looking at her when he opened his eyes.

She patted his cheek to urge him to look at her, gently at first, but got rougher when he continued to refuse, then she finally leaned in close as she whispered into his ear, "I suggest you open those beautiful eyes of yours for me because if you don't, I will make this more painful for you than it has to be. Or is that what you really want?"

When Jack still defied her, the woman suddenly backhanded him hard to provoke a moan from his lips, then she used the blade she picked up and began to cut through his sweatshirt in order to reveal his bare, scarred and bruised chest and stomach, then pulled away what was left when she finished and continued to taunt him, "I did warn you, kiddo. If rough is what you want, then rough is what you'll get. Feel free to call out my name if you wish. You can call me Mel."

Without warning, Mel laid one leg over on the other side of the bed until she was sitting down on top of his stomach, eliciting a cry from him as his stomach was already sore from the beatings he's taken from his foster father, then she laid over him and began to kiss the nape of his neck until she moved upward and forced her lips over his and began to kiss him with a deep hunger as her tongue danced all around, deeper and deeper to the back of his throat. Jack began to feel sick as she continued on with her passion, but he fought to keep it in, not wanting to make yet another mess he would have to clean up once this woman and Frank were done with him.

A few minutes later, Mel suddenly stopped and leaned up as she began to pull off her clothes, beginning with her blouse and her bra, then quickly unzipped the two zippers on the sides of her mini skirt she was wearing, pulled it up over her head, and finally tore off the thong she wore until she was completely naked. Once she was done, she turned her body enough to be able to reach down to his own pants as she tenderly began to move her hand down into them until she was running her fingers along the inside of his thighs as his foster father had earlier that afternoon. At first she was gentle, but began to grow rougher in hope of getting another kind of cry from the young man beneath her whom she saw as just her plaything. Mel was hurting him, but Jack struggled as he refused to give her what she wanted.

Finally she gave up and undid the button and zipper of his pants, then pulled them and his boxers down as she forced herself upon him and began to rape him as she wrapped her legs around his body and pulled his upper half up off the bed, holding him tightly against her own naked body as best as she could against his bonds. She forced his head back hard by pulling his hair as she kissed him fiercely on his lips and all along his face and neck, playfully sinking her teeth down into his flesh while digging her nails along the skin of his back and chest, which finally succeeded in getting the results that she wanted from him from the beginning. Jack screamed as she abused him and his eyes slowly opened, but as they did so, he saw nothing, having fallen deep into the back of his mind.

When Mel finished with him, she stood up and slowly got dressed again, not bothering to at least pull up his boxers for him, then leaned down over him once more as she looked into his beautiful blue eyes and smiled upon seeing a vacancy there as two more tears slowly rolled down his cheeks, then she licked them away, kissed his lips for almost a minute, and finally got up to leave the room, laughing as she closed the door behind her.

It wasn't long before Frank walked in again and found Jack to be just how Mel had told him she had left him, eliciting a cruel smile as he walked over and proceeded to molest his foster son as he's done many times before that night. Jack barely made a sound except for the few moans of pain that escaped his lips, while he continued to stare off into the black void of his mind. When Frank grew tired, he stared down at his naked body and for the first time noticed the cuts and scars upon Jack's wrists despite the straps wrapped tightly around them, realizing what Jack had done. He stood up and reached down to the floor to pick up his discarded pants to pull out a lighter and a full pack of cigarettes from his pocket, then moved to sit back down on top of the young man as he lit the cigarette, took one drag and let out the smoke, and lowered it down into Jack's line of sight. Whether the boy could actually see it or not, the cruel man didn't know and didn't really care.

"This is something I've never done to you before, but you need to be punished for your continued defiance, Jack," Frank said as he slapped his cheeks to try to rouse him which finally did the trick as Jack blinked and weakly turned his head to stare fearfully up at his tormentor, who continued to speak to the young man beneath him. "Cutting these scars into your wrists may be your way of trying to make yourself clean again, but you won't ever be. You're mine and you will always remain the filthy bastard child that you are."

Frank finally settled the tip of the cigarette down on top of Jack's chest as it burned his skin causing him to scream, then continued to do it again and again along his chest and stomach, having to light several sticks to do so, then moved on to burn the inside of his thighs, carefully avoiding his most private area to keep it from becoming scarred like the rest of his body. Jack screamed until he was hoarse, all the while causing sheer pleasure for the monster on top of him, at least until Jack suddenly felt the sickness he felt rise and quickly turned his body to his side the best that he could as he threw up, causing the man to jump up before the mess got on him too.

"You sick little shit," the vile man stated cruelly as he glared down at him until he finally moved to get himself redressed. "You're going to have to learn to enjoy yourself so that this will stop once and for all. I want you to stay like this until I decide to come back in to set you free. Maybe then you'll learn that I won't put up with this any longer. Sleep well, Jack. We'll have some more fun together soon."


	5. Chapter 5

Bleeding Out

Chapter Five

Bobby pulled back into the driveway outside of their house and quickly made his way inside as he called out, "Ma, are you still here?"

Evelyn left her room and came down the stairs, looking at her oldest son in surprise as she asked, "Bobby, what are you already doing back so soon for? I thought you were going to play hockey with your league?"

"I was, until I ran into a frickin' problem that I can't shake from my mind," the man responded in frustration as he took a seat on the couch inside their living room, while his mother took a seat beside him as she sensed his obvious distress. "I couldn't exactly go out and have fun playing a game after what happened. I ran into this kid, Ma. Literally, I almost hit him with my car as he ran out across the street a few miles from here. The strange thing is, I think that he might be the same kid you saw earlier this afternoon at the market. He was exactly how you described him, terrified out of his mind and wearing hardly anything but a dark, baggy sweatshirt. It was obvious he was trying to run away from someone, his father I'm guessing. I tried to hold onto him, but he screamed and begged me to let him go. I kept my grip on him, but I couldn't get anything from him though because two fu… frickin' cops showed up and interrupted. One of them knew this kid and took him away to bring him back to wherever he was coming from. Ma, what I can't shake is that just before the cop dragged him to their squad car, this kid grabbed onto my leg and stared up at me as he begged me to help him. I wanted to help him, but I… if I tried to trail the cops back to where they were taking him and were to get caught…"

"Then, you might have been arrested and sent to prison for longer this time," Evelyn answered for him as she reached out and gently touched her hand to her son's cheek. "Believe me, I understand. There was nothing you could have done, Bobby, but the fact that this is bothering you so badly is because you a good man no matter what anyone else tells you or says about you. I'm proud of you."

Bobby patter her hand and stood up as he replied, "Thanks Ma, but surely there's something that we can do. The cop mentioned something about this kid's father being disappointed that he had run away again, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the man is his real father. I mean, he could be a foster parent. Is there any way to see if the kid's in the system? The cop said his name was Jack."

Evelyn finally stood again as well and walked over to the computer at the desk, then began to open up the program she used to find and gather information on all of the children within the foster care system while she spoke again in frustration saying, "I wish it were that simple, but Bobby, without any more than a first name, there's no way to narrow down the search and there are thousands of children within foster care. Far too many to search through and it's not like we can type in any kind of description of the boy either. This program just doesn't work that way. However, it doesn't hurt to try. I believe I got a good enough look at him to recognize him again if I see him come up."

"It's dark out there tonight, but I'd certainly recognize him too," Bobby said confidently as he started toward the door again.

"Where are you going now?" the woman asked before he could leave. "You're not going to make any trouble, are you Bobby?"

He shook his head and smiled smugly as he responded, "Not if I don't have to. I just thought of another way that could help us to find out more. I don't exactly like it, but it may be a hell of a lot faster. I'm going down to the station to see if I can't find that cop who took the kid away, to see if I can't get him to tell me something."

Evelyn quickly stated, "But Bobby, I thought the whole point to you coming back here, instead of going after those officers in the first place, was so that you could keep out of trouble. I don't want you to risk…"

"Don't worry, Ma," Bobby interrupted. "I'm not going to hurt him. I just want to talk."

"Fine, but go to the gym first and pick up your brother from the game," she answered worryingly. "Maybe if Angel's with you, you might not be so quick to lose your temper. You know how you get."

Bobby smiled at her as he opened the door and replied smugly, "Or I might just be a bad influence on my kid brother and drag him down to my level."

Evelyn shook her head as she smiled back and said, "Heaven forbid. Please, just be careful. And if the officer does give you what you want, Bobby, please do not just rush off to the young man's home and get into a fight against his father no matter what kind of man he might be. Do you understand me?"

"Of course I do, Ma," the oldest of her sons responded in frustration, then quickly kissed her on her cheek and left their home once again without another word.

"I wish I could believe that that boy's temper won't get him into more trouble than he can afford one day," Evelyn spoke sadly to herself after he left, then went back to her computer to continue searching the foster care system's databank like she had begun.

At the gym…

Angel was cheering on the players in the game along with everyone else in the stands, when out of nowhere his oldest brother suddenly appeared at his side, not really caring about the score of the game, as he enquired, "So, who's winning?"

The youngest looked over at him as he asked coolly, "What the hell are you doin' here? Aren't you supposed to be off playing your own game?"

"I was going to, but something came up," Bobby answered under his breath, allowing Angel to see the anger that his brother felt. "I could use your help, unless this game's more important."

"Hell no it's not," he replied as he stood after him and followed him out into the hall. "What's going on?"

Bobby turned back to Angel before walking out into the cold again, then he responded, "I take it Ma explained to you a little of what happened in the market earlier, about the kid she ran into?"

Angel nodded and then answered in confusion, "Yeah, a little. What's he got to do with this?"

"I think I ran into him tonight too," Bobby continued to explain as they both headed out into the cold to get to Bobby's car. "My gut's telling me that this kid really needs our help, Angel. And I'm not sure why, but I can't just shake it off. I could use your help. We're going to have to talk to a couple of cops, or at least one in particular. Are you with me?"

"When am I ever not with you, man?" the younger brother replied smugly. "I'm in."


	6. Chapter 6

Bleeding Out

Chapter Six

Bobby and Angel both walked slowly inside the police station, making their way toward the offices in search of an old friend who had recently joined the department and as soon as they spotted him at his desk, Bobby called out, "Yo, Green! What's goin' on, man?"

Green looked up from his paperwork toward the call and surprisingly saw the two brothers and when they were standing over him, he looked up at them as he answered, "Well now, if it isn't Bobby and Angel Mercer. I never thought I'd see you two come in here on your own accord, certainly not without a pair of handcuffs around your wrists at least. It's getting late. What can I do for you tonight?"

"Trust me, you're no more surprised than we are," Bobby replied as he took a seat beside the desk, while Angel continued to stand. "We were hoping that you could tell us which one of your friends here might have picked up some runaway earlier this evening and brought the kid back to his house. You guys do keep logs of that shit, don't you?"

"Yes of course, but what interest is some runaway kid to you?" Green asked as he looked between the brothers quizzically.

Bobby put his legs up on top of the man's desk and leaned back slightly in the chair as if he were at home and looked at him smugly as he responded, "It's a long story, one that we really don't have time to explain. Let's just say that this kid needs more help than your pals gave him."

Green shook his head as he stared at the oldest of the two, then answered, "Fine then, don't tell me anything, but if you want my help, you're going to have to do better than that."

"There's not really much more to tell you," Angel replied in frustration. "We think he's in trouble and we're wanting to make sure that he's safe."

"This kid begged me for my help when I ran into him earlier, Green," Bobby continued coldly. "And at least one of these cops knows that something bad is happening to him at home and dragged him back there anyway. We want to know who."

Green quickly glared at them as he asked again, "And even if I could tell you anything, what do you plan on doing? Are you gonna beat some sense into him until he gives up where he brought this kid? You know darn well that I can't tell you what you want to know."

Bobby responded, "Surely you can tell us something. Come on, man. You were once our friend. I'd like to say that you still are, except I'm pretty sure you wouldn't bat an eye if you ever had to arrest us. Please, Green."

"I'll take a look in the computer to see if one of the officers filed a report on this like he or she should have," the man finally relented as he turned to his computer to begin his search.

"Thanks, at least you're one of the good ones," Bobby answered as he removed his legs from off his desk, then stood up alongside his brother.

After a few minutes, Green turned away as he looked up at them again and said, "No report about a runaway teenager has been filed. Most likely it's because this cop hasn't gotten around to writing it yet, especially if it happened only tonight."

Angel shook his head as he grumbled, "Or the man has no intention of writing this report at all, seeing as he's dirty and brought that kid to where he'll most likely end up dead."

"Which is all the more reason why we've got to find him as soon as possible," Bobby replied quickly as he looked around the precinct, hoping to spot the cops they were looking for.

"Look, I get that you two and your mother, not to mention Jeremiah, are all very much embedded with all things concerning adoption and the foster care system, but…" the officer started to say again until Bobby suddenly recognized one of the men he was looking for as he walked into the room and then began to walk toward the man without another word to Green, Angel quickly walking after him.

When the cop made his way outside of the office toward the exit, Bobby and Angel both called out to him to stop him and when they were alone, Bobby was the first to stand in front of the guy as he stated coldly, "Hey, do you remember me, pal? We met earlier tonight."

As the officer recognized him as the man who tried to interfere with him bringing his friend's foster child home, he responded in frustration, "I believe we finished our conversation earlier, pal. I suggest that you and your friend here move along and go home, before the storm out there gets any worse."

"Oh, there's a storm coming, but it ain't like the one yer thinkin' of," Angel answered coolly as he grabbed a hold of the man and shoved the cop backward against the wall behind him, while Bobby stood there and glared at him, not necessarily wanting to be the one to throw the first punch if it came about, as he promised their mother that he'd behave. "My brother wants to talk to you. I suggest you listen real good."

"Are you really threatening a cop inside our own house?" the cop asked in amusement, surprised by these men's bravado.

It was then that Green quickly ran down to them as he replied for them, "No Hawley, they're not. They just want to talk to you, don't you Bobby, Angel?"

Bobby nodded and said, "Green's right. We just want an answer. Where'd you take that kid? Where does he live?"

"What's it to you?" Officer Hawley asked angrily, especially when Angel didn't loosen his grip at all and Green didn't make a move to help him. "He's just a punk kid that has a tendency to get himself into trouble a lot."

"He's a kid who was scared out of his mind and he begged me to protect him," Bobby spoke again as his anger increased as well. "That's why I fucking care. I know that kind of look, though not quite as terrifying as the one I saw on him. He's being abused by the asshole you're protectin' by refusing to help us right now. Who is he, Officer Hawley is it?"

Green looked at the other cop as he requested, "Please, just tell us what they want to know and I'll go with these two to make sure that nothing happens. If you're not hiding anything, then you shouldn't be so worried. Are you hiding something, Hawley?"

The man finally gave in as he replied, "Fine, I'll tell you where we took the kid, but I'm telling you, you're not going to like what you find out. I was only protecting Frank because he said that if I ever told anyone what I know about him, then he'd tell people about my secret."

"What secret?" Green asked coldly. "That you're a dirty cop? That you've been taking bribes or something?"

"What, no!" Hawley quickly retorted. "I'm not a dirty cop. The secret that I'm gay."

Bobby glared at him as he responded, "You're protecting a scumbag who's hurting a kid because you don't want anyone to know that you're gay? You son of a bitch!"

Green stopped Bobby from punching the officer, even though he thought about doing so himself, then stated, "Take it easy Bobby. We're going to go find him."

"Do you guys have any idea how bad it is for a gay cop here in Detroit?" the man asked in frustration as Angel finally released his hold on him. "Do you? There's no place in the department for gay police officer."

"Tell it to someone who cares," Angel answered coldly. "What's the address?"

As soon as Officer Hawley gave them what they wanted, Bobby, Angel, and Officer Green all walked outside and headed to their separate cars, though Green quickly called out to the two brothers, "Hey, when we get there, we're going to handle things my way, is that understood?"

Bobby nodded as he replied, "Yeah, sure Green. Whatever you say."

Inside Frank's home…

Jack trembled as he continued lying naked against his bed while his wrists and ankles remained bound, his eyes staring out at nothing as he was void of all emotion, except for complete anguish. Every inch of his body hurt. However, he struggled to suppress the pain back as he fought against the straps. It took a long time, and thankfully his tormentors were leaving him alone for now, but he finally managed to slip one of his wrists free from the leather thanks to his blood that began trickling out from the slashes he cut into them earlier with the razor blade from the constant rubbing against his bonds.

The young man brought his mind back to his task at hand as he used his free hand to loosen the other three straps enough to be able to pull his wrist and ankles free and when he finished, he pulled his boxers back over the lower half of his body, not bothering to try to do the same with his pants, rolled over the side of his bed, then weakly dragged his body across the floor with the little strength he had left toward the loose floorboard and when he finally managed to dig out the small box and pried open its lid, he slowly pulled out the blade once more as he stared at it longingly while his head laid against the floor, unable to hold it up any longer. Without a second thought, having lost his will to live while trapped within his own private hell, Jack finally cut the blade deeply into the skin of his left wrist and continued to do the same to his right, then dropped the instrument as he watched his blood drain freely from the lacerations until his eyes slipped closed and he lost consciousness, his actions slowly stealing his life away.

Meanwhile…

Bobby and Angel pulled up outside of the address across the street and stared ahead at the two story house while they waited for Green to arrive behind them. Neither of them wanted to wait, but they knew it was good that a cop was actually with them so that whatever happened from this point on, at least they'd be covered and hopefully wouldn't both end up behind bars. When he pulled up behind them, the Mercer brothers quickly got out of their car, and walked up to the house's door behind their friend.

"Just remember, the two of you need to let me do the talking, seeing as I'm the only one here with a badge," Green said softly after knocking on the door twice.

"Don't worry, Green, we'll be model citizens," Bobby responded sarcastically.

A man finally answered the door as he glared at the cop standing there, as well as the two strangers behind him, then asked drunkenly, "Who the hell are you? Is there some sort of problem?"

Green was about to say something until Bobby quickly interrupted as he replied coldly, "Frank Shepard? Yeah, there's a problem here. We're looking for the kid who lives here."

"You're going to have to be more specific," he responded in confusion while Green glared at Bobby, who simply shrugged. "I have five kids that live here."

"How about the terrified teenager that tried running away from here earlier?" Bobby said again, growing angrier every second he spent standing in front of the scumbag before him.

Frank seemed to sober up a little as he answered cruelly, "You mean, Jack? Look, I don't know why the kid disappeared tonight. Maybe because I grounded him earlier, but whatever the reason, I can assure you, it won't ever happen again. He's been disciplined."

Green grabbed Bobby's shoulder to hold him back, then he replied quickly, "Listen Mr. Shepard, we're here because one of these men with me nearly hit your son with your car earlier tonight and he's worried that the boy was afraid of something that might have been after him."

"I don't understand, what is it you want from me?" the man asked again in frustration.

"Can we talk to Jack?" the officer requested curtly, having noticed the man's change in his demeanor. "We would like to see him for ourselves, just to clear up any misunderstandings."

Frank shook his head as he responded, "I'm afraid you can't tonight, gentlemen. Jack's already gone to bed for the night. He wasn't feeling very well."

All of a sudden, Bobby shoved Frank aside and walked past Green and through the rest of the man's friends who had all come out to see what was happening, as did Angel, then Green quickly followed after them as the Mercers made their way up the stairs, figuring that that was where the kids all slept, and after searching two of the four rooms, Bobby pushed open the door to the third room, and upon entering inside, he found the scared young man lying unconscious and practically naked on the floor and rushed over to him as he shouted, "Green, call 911! Hurry!"

"My God, what the hell happened to him?" Angel asked as he quickly made his way to his brother's side as the two of them carefully lifted the boy off the floor and Bobby pulled him into his arms while he lowered his head down to listen and feel for any sign of life, while Angel quickly grabbed whatever material he could grab within reach, then wrapped the torn clothes discarded earlier around both of his wrists as he held tight to try to cut off the blood flow.

"Suicide," Bobby stated angrily, having noticed the razor blade on the floor beneath his hand, though he pointed his anger more at himself as he stared down sadly at the frail young man he had failed to help earlier. "This kid begged for my help and because I didn't listen, he tried to commit suicide. We can't wait for the paramedics to get here. Angel, get your ass in the car. You and me are taking him to the hospital ourselves."


	7. Chapter 7

Bleeding Out

Chapter Seven

Forty-five minutes passed since they rushed the teenager inside and handed him off to be treated by the doctors, and Angel was sitting uncomfortably on one of the cheap plastic chairs inside the closest hospital's waiting room, his knees bouncing up and down as he focused on keeping his nerves under control, while Bobby angrily paced back and forth, every once and awhile running his fingers through his hair, then when he could no longer hold his anger in, he suddenly punched his right fist through the wall directly over his brother's head, startling Angel as he quickly jumped up and moved away from him to stand back so long as he remained in this frame of mind. Evelyn arrived as he did so, with her middle son, Jeremiah close behind her, and upon seeing her boys' distress, especially Bobby's, the woman quietly made her way over to them and reached out to lay her hand down upon her oldest son's shoulder, then pulled him into a hug in hope of calming him down, not for the hospital's sake, but for him and for their family.

"I should have protected him, Ma," Bobby said hopelessly as he finally allowed himself to break down, as little as he ever did. "That son of a bitch did something horrible to this kid and everyone in his life who should have cared he was hurting, didn't and they let that man do whatever the hell he wanted to do to him."

"Talk to me," Evelyn replied gently as she guided him and the rest of her boys over to sit down again. "Tell me what happened."

Jerry quickly spoke up saying, "I only know the little Ma explained to Angel and me earlier, about her running into this same teenager at the market?"

Bobby nodded in frustration, then answered coolly, "Yeah, and then I nearly ran him over with my car when he ran out in front of me on my way to play hockey. I knew this kid was in trouble. He begged me for my help and I let that cop drag him back to that hellhole anyway."

"So, what happened when you arrived at his father's home?" Evelyn asked sadly as she looked between both Bobby and Angel.

"We went there with Green after we spoke with the cop that dragged the kid away," Bobby continued. "We just wanted to make sure that he was safe, but after that son of a bitch refused to let us see him, we shoved our way inside to find him when I knew that something was wrong. We found him lying unconscious and half naked on the floor, barely alive with blood seeping out from his wrists. There was a sharp razor blade beneath his fingers. He tried to kill himself tonight, Ma, and his so called father, just smiled as we rushed the kid past him before he threatened to sue Angel and me for damages and breaking and entering."

Angel finally spoke up saying, "I wanted to beat the hell out that smug bastard right then and there, but…"

Evelyn responded for him, "But that young man needed you more. You two boys did the right thing tonight. No matter what happens, no matter what you might think of yourselves right now, I want you to know that you did everything you could do. I am very proud of you."

"What are we supposed to do now?" Jeremiah asked once his brothers were done explaining. "There's no way in hell we can let that monster get his hands on his son again."

"Jack isn't Frank Shepard's son," a white haired man in a suit replied coldly upon overhearing the last half of the family's conversation as he walked into the room toward them. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"

The three boys all quickly stood at the man's approach, followed by their mother a little more calmly, and as Bobby glared at the man, whom they could clearly see was a lawyer, he grumbled, "Let me guess, you are that motherfucker's lawyer?"

Evelyn stepped out in front of her oldest and while she continued to stare at the stranger, she said to her son quietly, "Watch your language, Bobby. Who are you, Mr….?"

"My name is Richard Walken and yes, I am Mr. Shepard's attorney," he answered as he reached out to shake the woman's hand, though she refused to accept his gesture. "My client, and oldest friend, called me immediately upon your boys' invasion into his home and their kidnapping of the foster child he has been caring for, for nearly a year now."

"The boy is in the system?" Jeremiah asked in surprise.

Angel added, "If that's so, how in the hell has he been in your friend's care for this long, while the whole time your friend has been abusing him in God knows what ways, and no one has noticed?"

Walken smiled as he responded, "I don't know what you're talking about. Frank has never laid a hand on that boy, or whatever else it is you boys might be thinking. He's done nothing wrong and you or that cop that helped you boys break in, can't prove otherwise. Because you all broke in without getting permission to enter and without a warrant, anything that the cop might have discovered while you were inside, would be inadmissible in any kind of court proceeding, allowing my client to get off scot free. Frank is a good man, who took in a child so far gone that no one else was willing to take him."

"Who is this child's social worker?" Evelyn asked before either of her sons could pummel the smug man before them as much as she wished she could allow them to. "I would like to speak with him, or her, to see why they haven't been by your client's home in order to see how the boy has been treated. I've seen the bruises and lacerations on his face, not to mention the terror in his eyes."

"So have I and I've seen the scars on his wrists," Bobby spoke again. "We found him lying nearly dead on the floor of his room wearing only boxers and his pants practically torn off, covered in cigarette burns and puke. Whatever your good friend didn't do, it was bad enough to make a thirteen, fourteen year old kid feel he had no other option other than to slash open his wrists. If you want to go on and pretend that this guy's a good man, who's done nothing at all to this kid, then do it, but I promise you, if he comes near him again, I will…"

Evelyn quickly stopped her son from finishing his threat as she stated, "Bobby please, that's enough. I believe Mr. Walken here understands the situation. Now Mr. Walken, the name of the social worker, if you please? We may not be able to make any charges stick against your client, Mr. Shepard, but you can be sure as hell that I will do everything in my power to make sure that that boy will never again suffer at his hands."

Richard smiled again as he replied, "Her name is Rachel Davis. Good luck, Mrs. Mercer."

"You should have at least let me hit him once, Mom," Angel said as soon as the man walked out of the waiting room, leaving them alone again.

"I wish I could have, Angel," Evelyn answered sadly when one of the nurses walked in, clearing her throat to get their attention.

The young woman spoke up quickly saying, "Forgive me, ma'am. I am sorry to interrupt, but are you the ones who brought the young man in a while ago with his wrists cut open?"

Jeremiah placed his hand on his mother's shoulder as he responded, "Yes, Miss. How is he doing?"

"I can't answer that at this time, seeing as you aren't related to him," she replied carelessly upon seeing an old woman, a white man, and two black men standing before her, not even thinking that they could be a family. "I was hoping that you might know who I can contact; his parents, a family member, or a guardian perhaps?"

"I'm the boy's social worker," Evelyn answered nervously at first, then continued with more confidence. "And these are my boys. Please, can you tell us how he's doing?"

The nurse shook her head as she responded, "I'm sorry, but without any proof…"

Evelyn interrupted, "I've become his social worker as of this afternoon. There's been no paperwork drawn up yet and I have no proof that what I'm telling you is the truth, but it is. Not one person in that boy's life cares about his welfare. If they did, he wouldn't be here in this hospital, having tried to take his own life after suffering from Lord only knows the kind of torment he's been through. But I care about him, and so do my sons. Please, will he be alright?"

"Fine," she replied in frustration. "The boy is very weak and still unconscious, which I suspect he will be for some time yet, but the doctors who operated on him seem confident that he'll recover. He's lost a lot of blood and he's severely malnourished. Then, there is the physical and sexual abuse… I suppose any emotional problems will be up to you to help him through. I have to go."

"That poor child," Evelyn answered sadly as she sat down with her boys' help to guide her into the chair after the nurse walked off.

Bobby sat down beside her and said, "What you just did was incredible, Ma, but did you really mean it?"

She looked between her boys as she responded resolutely, "Jack needs to know that he's not alone any longer and I'll be damned if someone tries to hurt him again."


	8. Chapter 8

Bleeding Out

Chapter Eight

The next morning, after a long night of sitting in the hospital before finally going home to get only a few hours of sleep, Evelyn and Jeremiah sat in his car parked outside of a tall office building in downtown Detroit for several minutes before Evelyn finally decided that it was time for her to go in. It wasn't that she was afraid that she was making the wrong decision, but because she knew that she and her boys were going to be in for a difficult fight where the life of a young man they didn't know was at stake and if they failed, then he would surely end up dead.

As she reached out to take the handle to open the door, her middle son quickly spoke up as he asked, "Are you sure that you don't want me to come in with you, Mom?"

Evelyn reached out and placed her other hand on his as she responded quietly, "No, I appreciate that, sweetheart, but this is something I need to do on my own. I am only going in to meet with the woman who calls herself a social worker. This is what I do. I would like it if you could head back to the hospital to relieve your brothers for a little while so that they can go home and get some sleep as well. Please call me should Jack wake up at all."

"Of course, but do you really think Bobby's going to just go home to sleep now?" Jerry asked in frustration. "You know better than I do that once he gets into this frame of mind, it's impossible to get him calm down until the situation is dealt with and settled. And he's really angry right now, Mom."

"By every right," she replied sadly. "And yes, I do know that he'll probably refuse to leave, so I want you to just let him do whatever he feels is necessary. Truthfully, I would certainly feel better if Bobby did remain there so long as that boy's guardian still has a chance to lay his hands on him."

Jeremiah nodded in agreement, then answered, "Don't worry, we'll let you know if anything happens. Good luck with getting Mrs. Davis to hand over this kid's guardianship to you. I certainly wish I could be there to see the look on that woman's face when you turn against her."

Evelyn smiled and opened the door, then got out as she looked back at him and responded, "I look forward to it. I will see you later."

Thirty-five minutes later…

"Mrs. Mercer, Miss. Davis will see you now," a young man stated as he moved around from the receptionist desk and stood before the old woman sitting down on one of the chairs in the lobby while waiting to be seen. "We apologize for the long wait."

"I'm sure," Evelyn grumbled as she walked past the young man and stepped into the office where a middle aged woman with long, curly brown hair with glasses was sitting behind her own desk. "You'll forgive me for being candor, Miss. Davis, but keeping me waiting for almost forty minutes even though we had a scheduled appointment is bad manners."

Rachel looked up and glared at the woman before her as she stood, then motioned for her to have a seat on the chair set up in front of her desk and replied, "I'm sorry, but I have a very busy schedule today. Now, you explained to the receptionist out front that you wish to speak to me about one of my cases, Jack I believe, is that right?"

Evelyn's eyes grew cold upon hearing the casualness in this woman's tone and remained standing as she answered angrily, "How can you be so cold in regards to a young man in your care whom you have clearly neglected for however long you've been in charge of his wellbeing? I don't know if you know this, or if you even care, but Jack is currently in the hospital after he tried to take his own life."

"No, I… I didn't know this," the younger woman responded nervously as she sat down at her desk, then continued to look at Evelyn, her tone haven suddenly changed. "If something happens to one of these children, I am supposed to be informed."

"By who, Miss. Davis, by the foster parents you place them with?" she asked again as she too finally took a seat. "From the scars, the bruises, the multiple lacerations, and the sheer terror me and my boys have seen on that poor child, it's obvious that the man you handed Jack off to is a sick monster, whom I am going to do everything in my power to make sure he gets put away for the rest of his life and if I find that you knew anything of the kind of man Frank Shepard is, then I will see to it that you go away for a long time too."

Rachel quickly replied, "Please Mrs. Mercer, I swear to you that I didn't know. I placed Jack in his and his wife's care under the belief that they would finally be the ones to take good care of him. I had heard a few months later that Frank's wife had died suddenly of cancer, but he assured me that he would continue to care for Jack. He gave me no reason to doubt him."

Evelyn answered harshly, "And it is your job to go to the home to make sure that that is indeed the truth, that the children in your care are indeed being taken care of and you failed to do so this time. Because of you, this man has been able to beat and molest this boy for some time and because no one has cared about his welfare, Jack cut open his wrists last night as a last resort, believing he was all alone."

"Oh my God," Rachel spoke again worryingly. "Look, Jack has been a very difficult case ever since he came into my case load back when he was only three years old. I tried my best to find good homes for him, but every time there was always a reason why the foster parents couldn't continue to care for him. A few told me that it was because of his poor health, others…"

"What do you mean, poor health?" the older woman interrupted before she could go on.

Miss. Davis responded, "Jack's birth mother was an addict, a drug addict, a drinker, smoker… she was a mess while she was pregnant with him. Truthfully, it's amazing he survived his birth, let alone became healthy after who knows how long, but as a baby, he was very sick and no one wanted to adopt a child, or take in a child, who might grow up with more difficult health issues."

The more experienced social worker shook her head sadly and then asked, "And who was his birth mother? What is Jack's last name?"

"I am finished speaking, Mrs. Mercer," Rachel replied in frustration as she attempted to stand to show her visitor out. "I have already said too much and you have no rights…"

"I have every right here as I have every intention of taking over Jack's care from here on out," Evelyn answered angry as she slammed down the proper paperwork on the desk which the young woman needed to sign in order to turn the boy over to her. "If you refuse to sign him over to me, I will go to whomever I have to, to see that you are suspended and then brought up on charges for the neglect of your charges. Am I making myself clear, Miss. Davis?"

Rachel was angry and wanted to have this woman thrown out of her office, but she saw in her eyes that this woman meant business and so she sat down again and continued coldly, "No one knows who Jack's mother was, nor his father. I was told that on the night she gave birth to him, she came into the emergency room of some hospital up in Lansing high as a kite and about to have her baby any moment. They both survived, but the kid was frail and sickly. No one held out much hope for him. Because the woman needed surgery right away, all the paperwork was forgotten and two nights later, when a nurse did enter the room to have the mother fill it out, she was gone. His mother up and left in the middle of the night, abandoning her sick baby to be cared for by the hospital until he was well enough to be taken into welfare system, having been shuffled around ever since. A nurse claimed that the woman had mentioned to her that she liked the name Jack, which is how Jack came to be his name, but he has no last name."

Evelyn closed her eyes sadly, then looked at Rachel again as she asked, "So, how did you come to neglect this child so shamefully?"

"As I was trying to tell you, no one wanted the poor boy as he kept getting sent back to the center where he lived with several other boys that went in and out," Rachel responded worryingly. "Most of the foster parents claimed that the older Jack became, the more unruly and trouble he became. I knew he had been abused by a few of them and one couple even had him kept locked in a basement with very little food to keep him out of their hair while they continued collecting money for his care from the state, but I pulled him from each of those homes as soon as I learned about it all. Eventually, Jack simply became too much for me to handle, as I have far too many other cases to care for, far more than what should be allowed. I messed up, I know that now, but…"

"But nothing," Mrs. Mercer replied curtly as she stood and glared down at the younger woman before her as she pointed to the papers on her desk once again and waited patiently for her to sign them. "I am caring for Jack now. Be grateful that I will not have you reported like I know I should. And God help the rest of the children in your care. I certainly hope that you care about their wellbeing, better than you did Jack's. Good day, Miss. Davis."

With that said, Evelyn turned and walked away as she stepped out in the lobby and called for a cab to pick her up. When the driver asked the woman where she would like to be taken, she smiled at the man as she answered that she would like to be taken to the hospital where her boys were no doubt still waiting for permission from the hospital staff to be let in to see the young man, whom she suddenly got the sense would eventually become the next member of their family.


	9. Chapter 9

Bleeding Out

Chapter Nine

"I may be tired, Jerry, but I'm not going home yet, until I know that the kid's at least going to pull through," Bobby answered in frustration after Jeremiah arrived back at the hospital and told his brothers to head home to rest like their mother asked him to do. "Go ahead and take Angel with you if you want though. He could certainly use his beauty sleep."

"I'm not leaving either," the youngest responded as he remained in his chair while he watched his two brothers standing in front of him.

Jeremiah shook his head and then replied, "I knew you both would refuse to listen to reason. Look, you can't be of any help to this kid, whom none of us know anything about by the way, if you're dead on your feet."

Bobby growled, "I may not know anything about him, but I know that he asked for my help, so I'm here. I don't know why I can't just let this go. Ma always told us that we were all brought together for a reason. Maybe Ma and I both ran into that kid in there for that same reason too."

"I'm surprised you of all people believe in that fate stuff," Angel said with a chuckle.

"I don't," Bobby retorted in frustration. "I just said I don't really know why I'm doing this, didn't I? Angel, you saw him last night. Don't tell me you don't want to help him too."

The younger man stood as he answered, "Of course I want to help him. I already said that I ain't leavin'. What about you, Jerry?"

The twenty-three year old looked between his older brother and his younger brother and responded, "I'm still here, aren't I? Look, I'm with you two, especially because Mom's probably more devoted to helping that poor kid even more than both ya'll."

Bobby was about to talk again, when he suddenly grew rigid upon seeing the very man responsible for putting Jack in the hospital and before either Jeremiah or Angel could ask him what was wrong, as neither of them had seen the boy's guardian yet, the oldest of the Mercer brothers charged through them and swiftly punched the stranger square in his jaw, causing the man to fall to the ground hard as the young man standing with him quickly rushed to help him sit up.

"You've got a lot of nerve showing up here, you son of a bitch," Bobby spoke up angrily as his brothers rushed to his side and grabbed onto him to keep him from striking out against the man a second time. "What the hell do you want? To see your good work?"

"Bobby, who is this guy?" Jeremiah asked in confusion as he looked between him and the stranger.

Angel quickly replied for him as he glared at the man as well, "This is Jack's foster father. The man who tried to kill the boy."

Frank looked between the three men as his oldest son helped him stand back on his feet, but his eyes stopped on Bobby, then answered smugly, "In case you don't recall, that kid slit his own wrists. I had nothing to do with that."

"No, because you are such a saint for taking in a kid that nobody wanted and that nobody would miss," Bobby responded coldly as he finally shrugged his brothers off of him, then remained standing directly in front of this man so that he couldn't get past him. "You figured, that because Jack has become a lost cause, that you could do whatever vile thing you wanted to do to him and that no one would ever know or care. You thought that he would just accept your abuse and let you keep on hurting him because he knew that no one would ever care. Well you're wrong, you sick fuck. He slashed his own wrists because you messed him up, but you can be damned sure that you'll never be able to lay your hands on him again. He's not all alone anymore."

"There's nothing you can do, not to me and not for him," the man replied cruelly. "I never laid my hands on that kid. I cared for him like I care for my own kids. No one will ever believe two hoodlums, who broke into my home and kidnapped a child from his loving family."

It was then that Officer Green walked forward to stand with the Mercers as he answered, "I believe them, especially since I saw exactly what they saw last night. You may be right about one thing, Mr. Shepard. We might not be able to make any of the charges I can think up against you stick because we did invade your home, but I will stand with these boys between you and the boy. I know the Mercers pretty well and I know that they're going to make sure that Jack will be removed from your care as soon as they can and if you try to make a move to take him from here, then I will arrest you for kidnapping, which I am certain I will be able to make stick very soon."

The young man who came into the hospital with his father quickly spoke up angrily saying, "You can't talk to my dad like that! He's a good man and Jack is a good for nothing punk that never appreciated anything we ever did for him, including giving him food to eat and a roof over his head."

"Keep telling yourself that, kid," Bobby stated coolly. "I'm guessing there's a lot about your father you don't know and for that, I'm real sorry. You look like you're over eighteen. I suggest you move out as soon as you can and if there are anymore of you living in that house, then have them over as often as you can, or help them move in with some other relative because I don't think your good relationship with this creep will last for much longer."

"Until Jack is no longer in my care, the right to see him is mine and I don't want you three anywhere near him," Frank responded as he turned to the doctors and nurses who all had come into the waiting room at this point to see what was going on after hearing the argument continue to grow more and more heated. "Do you all hear me? I have proof that I am the legal guardian of the boy brought in here last night and these three men are trespassing. I want them removed and Officer Green, if you don't move out of my way, I will go to your captain at the station and have a complaint brought up against you. I will make sure that you end up suspended or worse if you continue to get in my way. Do you understand?"

Green glared at the man, but finally turned away to look back at his friends sadly as he replied, "I'm sorry guys, but he's right. Legally, he still has the right to do all that he said. And he still has the right to see Jack if he wants to."

Bobby quickly stepped toward the man who was kind of their friend as he shouted, "That's it? You're just going to give up, just like that? You're a coward, Green."

"Call me what you like, but I still have to follow the law," the cop answered in frustration. "I'm a cop and unfortunately, this is one of the things I hate that I have to enforce. I am sorry, but you three need to leave the hospital. If you don't…"

"I'm not going anywhere," Bobby responded firmly as he continued to stand his ground. "If we leave, that kid is as good as dead."

Frank spoke up again saying, "Don't be absurd. I told you, I care about Jack as much as I care about my own kids. I will not hurt him. As soon as the doctors say I'm free to bring him home with me, I'm taking him out of here to where he'll feel much better."

Angel stepped closer to the man as Bobby did, then looked back at their brother as he said quickly, "Jerry, call Mom. Tell her we need her back here as soon as she can get here. She will know what to do."

"I already tried," Jeremiah replied worryingly as he showed him his phone already in his hands. "It's going right to voicemail. She must have it turned off while she's in meeting with the social worker. Either that, or her phone died, but she'll be here."

"Don't worry, there's still plenty of time," Green stated. "The kid isn't even awake yet and Mr. Shepard won't be able to take him anywhere for at least a few days. Surely by then everything will be sorted out. Please Bobby, just go before I have to arrest you. You know that if I do, then it will be far longer than I know you and your family want and you won't be of any help to Jack."

Bobby finally relented as he stood down, then turned to look back at the monster watching him begin to walk away with a smug look on his face, as he said coldly, "If anything happens to that kid, if you so much as touch him again, I swear I will make you regret it."

Frank asked, "Do you really think you can scare me? I do not scare so easily by petty threats. Do your worst. You're the one who is going to regret it."


	10. Chapter 10

Bleeding Out

Chapter Ten

After the Mercers left the hospital wing, the two black men having to drag the older white man with them, Officer Green remained behind as Frank smiled, then changed his smug attitude quickly as he turned back to the doctor in charge of treating his foster son and in trying to sound concerned he spoke up saying, "I'm sorry for all the ruckus, doctor. I don't know who those men were or what their problem with me was, but I can assure the problem has been handled. How is my son?"

The doctor seemed to buy the man's act as he replied, "He's stable. But your boy lost a lot of blood and we found hardly anything in his stomach. Seeing as he's as thin and frail as he is, it seems that he's not had hardly any food for quite some time."

"Believe me, I've tried to get him to eat right, but he's a very troubled young man," the guardian responded, pretending to be sad. "He's done drugs in the past. He's been clean for a little while now, but… I'm not so sure that I'll be able to keep him from starting up again now."

"I'm more concerned about the apparent abuse we've seen on his body," the doctor continued worryingly. "The bruises, the cuts and bite marks, the cigarette burns all over his body, not to mention the sexual abuse he's been through. Can you explain all that to us?"

The man's son looked over at his father in confusion, but kept quiet as Frank answered easily, "I'm afraid that all that is my fault, doctor. I had some friends over to watch the hockey game on television last night and we all got a bit more hammered than we planned to. While I must have passed out, one of them must have gone into Jack's room and did those terrible things to him. If I could have stopped him or her, believe me, I would have."

Green shook his head in disbelief and then spoke up again asking, "If that's really what happened, then how do you explain the older scars on the boy's wrists from where he cut into them long before last night? Why would your foster child want to kill himself before a complete stranger attacked him?"

"As I've already said, Officer Green, he is very troubled," the cruel man replied with no remorse in his tone.

"And what about the leather straps attached to his bed," Green asked one final question. "How do you explain that one away?"

Frank became angry as he growled coldly, "I don't know anything about any leather straps on his bed, officer. I've never seen them before. Perhaps Jack likes to play kinky games when he has his friends over. When can I see him, doctor?"

The man in the white coat raised his hand and motioned for the boy's father to follow him as he led him down the hall, leaving Green and his actual son in the waiting room, then opened the door to a room where Jack was lying still unconscious upon the single hospital bed, his chest and wrists wrapped in bandages as well as the cuts upon his neck, while his arms and legs were once again bound to the metal bars beside him.

"The restraints are merely for precaution, Mr. Shepard," the doctor said quietly as he stood back to allow room for the boy's father to move to is bedside. "It's what we must do with all suicidal patients that come in, so that they cannot harm themselves or anyone else."

"Would you mind if I have some time alone with him?" Frank asked, once again trying to sound upset over the condition of the young man in his care.

The man nodded and moved toward the door as he responded, "Take all the time you need. Just hit the button above his bed if you need anything."

Once the doctor was gone, Frank smiled as he looked down at Jack and gently began to run his fingers playfully through the boy's hair and spoke to him quietly and cruelly, "Foolish child. I told you that you were stuck with me until I am done with you. You are mine for as long as I want you to be and those men that came to your rescue, and that cop, they won't be able to help you. I convinced the doctor here that I had nothing to do with why you tried to kill yourself and others will believe me too. Why can't you just be good and enjoy our time together, mmm?"

"So, it's true then?" the man's oldest son suddenly stated in revulsion upon entering the room, having overheard his father's taunt toward the young man he had no liking for. "Your friends didn't do this, you did."

"Kevin, it's not what you think," Frank tried to explain worryingly as he started to walk toward his son. "Please, I need you to listen to me. I want to explain…"

Kevin quickly interrupted, "Look, I don't care about Jack. The kid's a freak and I never liked him since you and Mom brought him home, but I can't believe that you would do this. Why and how… how long?"

His father motioned for his son to have a seat in the chair near the bed and when the young adult did so, he answered, "I loved your mother very much, believe me on that. When Jack first came to us, I felt something strange with him, but I didn't know or understand what it was and even once I did, I certainly never acted on it so long as your mother was alive. However, when she died, I was hit with this force of grief and agony over our loss and then one night, as I was watching Jack… something inside me snapped and I couldn't help myself. I walked into his room that night after everyone was in bed and it happened. I didn't want to and I certainly didn't intend to hurt you or the rest of you kids, but Jack allowed me to release my pain over losing your mother and it's become an addiction. I am begging you, Kevin. Please do not tell. Very few people know about this."

"Do a few of those people include those you had over last night?" Kevin asked nervously as he looked at his father sadly. "At least some of them had to know. There's no way you could have done to Jack what you did without at least someone hearing you or seeing you sneak into his room."

"A few of them know," the man replied curtly. "Are you going to tell the police what I've done? Because if you do, then I could go to prison, for a very long time. It may not affect you because you're eighteen, but think of what it could do to your younger brothers and sisters. They will have no one to care for them and will end up in the system just like Jack. Can you really allow that to happen to them? To see them grow to be messed up like this kid right here?"

Kevin shook his head quickly and responded angrily, "Hell no. Jack is nothing, but a fuck up. Can I ask you one more thing though? Have you ever felt the way you've felt toward him, toward one of us? Would you ever hurt us like this?"

Frank smiled as he pulled his son into a hug and answered sincerely, "I would never hurt you or the rest of my children. I love you all more than anything. If you can look past this and continue to see me as you always have, as a man you love and respect, then I promise you I will do everything in my power to not give into my urges anymore."

"Listen, I believe you, all right?" Kevin finally said as he pulled himself free of his father's embrace. "Of course I do, you're my father. I appreciate you telling me the truth and I won't say anything, but you do realize that those people back there, the people wanting to help Jack, they're not going to let this go and if they do get their hands on him and he tells what you've done…"

"Then, we're going to have to do something to make sure that they can't help him, but we're going to have to be smart," Frank finished for his son. "Those men said something about their mother going to speak with Jack's social worker and I have a feeling that it won't be long before she'll be able to take him away. I can't simply do anything to… well you know, but maybe once he wakes up, I can convince him to finish what he started. He won't be any more trouble to us then."


	11. Chapter 11

Bleeding Out

Chapter Eleven

When Evelyn arrived back at the hospital, she quickly paid the cab driver and got out as she started to walk inside again, but before she could do so, she heard one of her sons call out to her and spun around as she saw all three of them sitting out in Bobby's car as her oldest motioned for her to join them.

"It's good that you're here Mom," Jeremiah spoke first as soon as she was sitting in the front passenger's seat beside her oldest after Angel quickly moved to sit in the back with Jeremiah. "I really hope you succeeded in getting that social worker to cooperate with you."

"What's happened?" she asked as she looked at her three boys in confusion, seeing the frustration in each of their faces. "Why aren't you inside waiting to hear from Jack's doctor?"

Bobby responded disdainfully, "His sick son of a bitch guardian showed up, that's what happened. He threatened to have us all arrested if we didn't leave and threatened to have Green suspended if he didn't enforce his wish for us to leave. Green caved saying that it was his duty as cop to obey the law."

Angel continued, "We had no choice. We had to leave or he really would have arrested us."

"Did you get the woman to sign Jack over to you permanently?" Bobby asked worryingly.

"Yes I did," Evelyn answered confidently. "Which means that now we have a right to go in there and see him. However, before we do, I would like to ask you boys what you would think if we had Jack come and live with us for awhile, at least until I can find a good home for him where I know, and he'll know, that he can finally be safe and happy. The poor boy needs to know that he can be safe and happy again, just like you three. I realize that he is going to be harder than the rest of you boys were, that it will be far harder on him to adjust to us, but…"

Bobby leaned over and kissed his mother on her forehead and then replied, "Ma, I assumed that we were going to already and I'm all for it. I've got an apartment lined up and will be leaving soon anyway, but I'll still be close by and I can finally do right by him. I owe the kid."

Angel nodded in agreement and responded, "Besides, I'm no longer going to be the youngest in the house anymore. I hate being the youngest."

"And I don't think that I'm going to be living at home for much longer either, so the kid can have my room, when I do move out that is," Jeremiah added as everyone looked back at him in confusion. "I'm thinking about asking Camille to marry me."

"Oh Jeremiah, that is wonderful news!" their mother answered excitedly as she reached back and pulled him in for a quick hug the best she could despite the seat being in the way. "I am so happy for you!"

Bobby slapped his younger brother across the back of his head as he replied mockingly, "Yeah, congratulations, Jerry. I'll be glad to get rid of you because you're no good to me and Angel anymore now that you've grown soft."

Jeremiah glared at him as he responded, "Gee, thanks a lot, Bobby. Thanks, Mom. It will probably be awhile before we get married, but we've been talking about moving in together first."

"We will celebrate soon, once we can get things settled with Jack," Evelyn said again as she moved to get out of the car, as her sons followed after her while they headed into the hospital again.

However, before they could get past the receptionist area, Green was on his way out and stopped them upon seeing them again, but Evelyn quickly pulled out the papers which proved that Jack legally belonged in her care and that she had the right to make sure Frank Shepard could no longer go near him.

"Please Officer Green, we need to get inside and kick that man out as he tried to do to my sons," the kindhearted foster mother stated with a sense of urgency.

Green nodded as he turned around, but as they were following after him, he spoke up again saying, "We can be sure to kick him out of here, but bringing him up on charges is going to be much more difficult than what you initially thought. After your you all left, the man fed the doctors here some bullshit story which they all seemed to believe."

Bobby quickly asked in confusion, "What kind of story?"

"He had answers for all their questions about Jack might have sustained all of his injuries," Green continued. "Something about how Jack's done drugs in the past even though he's been clean for awhile, that he cut his wrists because he's simply a troubled young man, but worst of all, Frank also told them the reasons for his injuries are because he's afraid that some of his house guests from last night, must have gone into his room to abuse him after most of them had passed out from one too many drinks."

"I swear, I'm going to…" Bobby began as they continued to make their way through the halls toward the young man's room, until Evelyn cut him off by placing her hand down on his shoulder.

Green looked back at his friend as he answered, "As I said, a real bullshit story. We're almost there."

However, as they turned the corner, they suddenly saw and heard a large commotion as doctors and nurses were running in and out of Jack's room while the machines the boy was hooked up to were wailing loudly. Frank and his son were standing outside a bit further down the hall, simply looking on with an eerie sense of fascination.

Evelyn and Bobby both rushed forward as she called out to one of the nurses standing by asking, "What's going on here? Is he alright?"

"The kid woke up and started freaking out over being restrained," she replied curtly.

"Why the hell did you have him restrained?" Bobby yelled harshly. "Don't you know that that bastard over there had strapped him down to his own bed so that he could do whatever the hell he did to him? Did you ever stop to think that maybe he was scared that he might still be at home and about to be abused all over again?"

Evelyn motioned for Angel and Jeremiah to pull her oldest back, then looked at him as she responded, "Bobby, that's enough. I want you to calm down."

As the nurses and doctors all finally walked back out of the room and having overheard most of the argument going on outside of the room, one of the doctors stopped as he stood before the people all waiting to see the young man and began to explain as he said, "Look, the kid managed to slip one of his wrists free and grabbed for whatever he could to try to kill himself again, then when we tried to restrain him again, he tried to attack us. We had to sedate him to calm him down. And the restraints, they're for his own safely as well as for the safety of my staff."

"Did that son of a bitch have a chance to go in and see him?" Angel asked coolly as the three Mercers glared down the hall at the previous guardian who was about to have his rights to Jack revoked.

"The man is the kid's legal guardian," one of the nurses still standing with them answered quietly.

It was then that Evelyn stepped forward again and showed the young woman, Frank, and Jack's head doctor the papers as she replied, "Well as of an hour ago, I am now legally caring for this child and as such, I am pulling him from Frank Shepard's custody. Any decisions in regards to his welfare will all go through me now."

The doctor finished reading as he looked up at the woman before him, then turned to the man who used to care for his patient and responded, "It appears she is correct, Mr. Shepard. I am afraid I am going to have to ask you to leave immediately."

"I'm leaving," Frank answered coldly as he glared between the old woman and her three sons when he and Kevin walked past them. "But I can promise you that you're in for far more trouble than that kid is worth."

"That boy is worth everything," Evelyn replied steadfastly. "It's a shame that you can't see that."


	12. Chapter 12

Bleeding Out

Chapter Twelve

Over the next few days and nights, the Mercers took turns staying in the hospital with Jack, sometimes two or more would remain with him, while most of the time only one of them would stay. The family was afraid that if he were to ever be left alone, the monster responsible for hurting him would come back to try again, or worse, succeed in killing him once and for all. Evelyn and Bobby were the most adamant about staying with him, but both Angel and Jeremiah took on their share of the responsibility as well, each of them feeling a sense of concern for the young man.

On the first night Bobby sat with him on his own, he stared down at Jack sadly for the longest time while remaining silent until he suddenly became aware that the restraints were still in place. The oldest brother leaned forward and carefully removed the bindings so as to not frighten him, but despite the movement, Jack remained asleep due to the sedatives pumping through his body as well as the other drugs given to him to help with the pain the poor boy was undoubtedly feeling. Bobby didn't care what the doctors would think or say if they knew he had freed their patient. He knew that Jack wasn't dangerous, just terrified and rightly so. Later in the night Jack did finally begin to stir and became very agitated and confused when he couldn't think clearly about where he might be or who might be with him. However, Bobby was right there at his side as he struggled to hold onto him, not harshly, but gently until the fourteen year old finally calmed down and drifted back into sleep. This happened a few more times while Evelyn, Jeremiah, and Angel were there as well, but it was finally on a night when the kindhearted caregiver was sitting with him that he awoke and didn't struggle, except to try to focus his eyes on who was with him.

As soon as she saw him looking at her, though his eyes showed the same eerie look which she had seen on his face the first time they ever met, Evelyn sat up slowly and reached out her hands to try to lay them over one of his own until he weakly pulled it away. However, she didn't stop trying to reach him in order to reassure him that he was going to be alright. So instead, the woman pulled her hands back and slowly turned them face up to show him that they were empty and that she wasn't going to touch him until he was ready.

His eyes didn't soften, the fear in them still being very much apparent, but when Jack no longer tried to pull away from her, Evelyn sadly smiled down at him as she said soothingly, "It's alright, sweetheart. I'm not going to hurt you. No one is ever going to hurt you again. I promise you, you're safe now."

Without a word or even a sound, Jack weakly fell asleep once again and when he was under, Evelyn reached out and gently ran her fingers across his forehead and along his face in hope of helping him to feel peace as he slept, rather than feel the terror he sees in the nightmares it was clear he was suffering from after the traumatic experiences at the hands of the people who should have cared for him and didn't, especially from the pain caused by the vile man who nearly killed him.

Jack began to wake more and for longer over the next few nights, but still never said a word as Evelyn, Bobby, Jeremiah, and Angel all spoke to him with kindness and calmly as they introduced themselves and shared stories of how each of them came to be found and brought together. Even though they knew the young man was awake while they spoke, none of them knew for sure if he was hearing them, as he never said a word and he never turned to face any of them, but they never gave up trying to get through to him.

Finally one night when Bobby was sitting in the room alone, Jack turned his head to look at the older man and as soon as Bobby noticed this, he quickly sat up and leaned in closer as he spoke up saying, "Hey kiddo, there you are. Do you need anything?"

"I know… I know you?" Jack stated weakly, his voice barely audible as Bobby had to strain his ears to be able to hear him.

"Yeah, yeah you do," Bobby answered as the young man continued staring at him while he struggled to focus his eyes. "We sort of met several nights ago in that snow storm that came through, when I nearly hit you with my car. You asked me for my help."

The young man's eyes saddened as tears slowly began to slip down his cheeks when he replied, "But you let them take me. Why… why did you save me now? I'll never be sa… fe. If it's not my last guardian, there will just… just be someone else. It never… en… ends."

Jack closed his eyes and rolled over uncomfortably onto his side in order to turn away as he continued to cry in silence, his words crushing Bobby. His anger deepened, but it wasn't necessarily directed toward all of those people that failed to keep this boy safe, or even just toward Frank Shepard. Bobby had saved Jack too late and he was suffering for it, which was why he was mostly angry with himself. He finally stood and walked quietly out of the room to leave the young man alone like he knew he wanted, then stood outside of the door for a few minutes until he suddenly turned toward the wall behind him and punched his fist through it like he had done days ago in the waiting room.

Jeremiah was walking down the hall with two coffees in his hands when his brother stepped out and as soon as he saw him strike out again in anger, he dropped the styrofoam cups and rushed to his side as he asked quickly, "What's going on? Damn it Bobby, you're going to get us kicked out of here again if you keep punching holes in their walls! What on earth happened? Is Jack alright?"

"What do you think, Jerry?" Bobby responded angrily. "He isn't going to be alright for a long time, if ever. And he sure as hell isn't ever going to trust me. Not that I blame him. I failed him when he needed me the most, but not again."

"Hey, hey, just take it easy man," Jeremiah said quickly as Bobby brushed past him and started to storm off until he grabbed him and tried to turn him around to face him, but stopped and released him as soon as he saw the fire in his eyes. "He's going to come around, Bobby. You'll see. He's hurting right now. You had no idea what was really happening and in time, Jack will understand that too."

Bobby looked at him coldly as he spoke up again saying, "Look after the kid for me for awhile, would ya? I have something I have to do. It's the least I can do."

When his older brother turned and finally walked away from him, Jeremiah quickly pulled out his phone from his pocket, dialed their mother's number, and after she picked up, he explained worryingly, "Mom, I think Bobby's gone off to do something real stupid. He just stormed out of the hospital seething. I think Jack might have finally spoken to him and whatever it was, it set him off. I have a feeling he's going over to kill Frank Shepard if you don't grab Angel and get over there right now to stop him."


	13. Chapter 13

Bleeding Out

Chapter Thirteen

Frank Shepard stepped out of his house into his backyard carrying a large garbage bag in his hands as well as a bin full of empty tin cans and cardboard boxes that once held alcohol and pizza until his friends had come over again for another game that night. A woman followed him out and began to kiss him after he unloaded the garbage, then continued making out with him quite passionately until Frank suddenly pulled back and pushed her away from him.

"What's the matter, baby?" she asked acting hurt, though he knew that it was really just her way of toying with him like she did to all of the men she made love to. "I know that you prefer to be alone when we, kiss. Why do you keep pushing me away? Is it because you wish I was that boy of yours instead?"

"You don't know what you're talking about, Rachel," Frank replied coldly when she continued to advance on him. "You should leave. And I don't want you to ever come back here. We're done."

She called out after him as he started to walk back into the house saying angrily, "Look, I get it. I know what he's like, remember? I loved him too, but I also warned you when I first placed him with you that you couldn't let him roam around freely. If you didn't let him out, he never would have run into that guy on the street and Evelyn Mercer wouldn't have gotten involved. The kid's terrified of his own shadow, but he still has a small bit of spirit."

The man glared at her as he answered harshly, "Not anymore he doesn't. I saw to that when I visited Jack in the hospital before those people kicked me out."

"I knew that you were the reason why the kid freaked out that day," a voice sounded angrily from beside them a few feet away as Frank spun around to see the same man that broke into his home with another as he swiftly made his way toward him, then shoved him backward against the outside of his house. "What the hell did you say to him? Tell me!"

"I think… I'm just gonna go," the woman responded nervously as she started to back away until Bobby suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist while he continued to hold Frank up against the wall. "Ouch, let go of me!"

Bobby tightened his grip as he pulled her around and shoved her down hard against the ground, then he shouted, "Shut up! I didn't say that you could go anywhere! You're that social worker my mother went to go see. Jack's social worker? How the hell could you do all that, to a kid? You were supposed to protect him!"

Frank struggled against the man holding him as he glared at him, then said coolly, "You have no rig…"

"No what, you mean no right?" Bobby asked as he smashed his head back against the building. "I've got every right here, especially since I'm the one with the gun!"

"Please…" Frank pleaded as Bobby suddenly pulled out a pistol from behind his back and began to point it between the man still standing and the woman lying against the ground. "Please, you can't do this. So I told Jack that he would never escape me to scare him into finishing the job so he couldn't tell. And I beat him, as well as… But I didn't do nothing that that kid didn't des…"

Bobby cocked the hammer before the man could finish his sentence and was about to fire until Angel all of a sudden ran from out of nowhere and struggled to pull his brother away from him as he stated fearfully, "You can't do this, man. I know you want to, but if you do…"

Finally Evelyn appeared from around the corner of the house as well as she walked toward them and continued for her youngest son, "If you hurt this man and this woman, then you are no better than they are and I know for a fact that you are good. Bobby, please. Lower your weapon and let him go. I promise you, that he will get what's coming to him and so will Miss. Davis here, but it won't be like this. It can't be like this."

"I'm really sorry, Ma," Bobby replied as he relented and lowered his gun, then turned to look between his mother, brother, and the two monsters still before them while he fought to keep his tears in as they threatened to fall. "But he tried to kill Jack again that day at the hospital and this woman raped him, just like this sick fuck molested him. I heard her say it."

"You're never going to be able to prove it," Rachel answered angrily as she struggled to get up off the ground and back onto her feet. "No one will ever believe a thug who broke in and threatened to kill me and Frank. It's nothing, but hearsay and I am a social worker who's placed dozens of children in good homes for almost twenty years. They'll never believe him over me."

Evelyn glared at the younger woman as she responded firmly, "And I am a social worker who has placed hundreds of children in loving homes and took in three fine young men that everyone else have written off because they all saw them as hooligans, just as I am going to do for Jack. You both may have good lawyers and maybe we can't prove any of what you've done to that poor child because of my sons' invasions, but believe me now when I tell you this, Miss. Davis. You will never work again as the loving caregiver you pretend to be. And you, Mr. Shepard. You will pay for your sins one day. God will surely see to that. Neither of you will ever be able to lay another hand on Jack again because the second that you try it, so help me, I will allow my boys to finish what they started. Jack is one of us now."

She and her two sons started to walk away until Evelyn stopped, then turned around again as she quickly added, "And by the way, just because there is a good chance they we might not be able to get you convicted of these heinous crimes, it doesn't mean that we aren't certainly going to try. Nothing my boys can say will stop you, but Jack is awake and finally speaking. In time, he will be brave enough to be able to stand against you and share all of the pain you've both caused him in order to get you both put away for life. He is much stronger than you know because I have seen it."

"That was amazing!" Angel exclaimed as soon as they walked away and got back the two parked cars down the street. "You really stuck it to them. There's no arguing with you!"

"I just really hope that you're right," Bobby replied sadly. "You didn't see the way the kid looked at me. He's never going to trust me for failing him when he really needed me. I figured that if I could just come here and at least take care of the person he's most afraid of, so that he won't have to keep looking over his shoulder… I know it was wrong, but…"

Evelyn turned to her oldest as she answered, "It was wrong, but you stopped yourself. As for Jack, he will come to trust you, Bobby. He will, you'll see."

Angel responded, "Besides, you heard Mom. Jack's one of us now, another Mercer."


	14. Chapter 14

Bleeding Out

Chapter Fourteen

Finally, Jack was released from the hospital the next day. His bruises were close to being healed and the lacerations across his face and body were improving, as were the slashes on his wrists, but the scars left behind would never fully disappear, so instead of the bandages that were removed just before he was discharged by his doctor, for now he simply pulled the long sleeves of the sweatshirt Bobby had given him down over them as best as he could and kept pulling them down any time the sleeves would ride up, or he at least felt like they were. Jack hardly spoke to anyone, least of all to Bobby, except for the little that he needed to when asked a question or he wanted an answer for himself. No one took it personally and no one gave up trying to break through to him. The Mercers all knew that it was going to be a long road and though patience didn't come easy to either Bobby or Angel, they all had their mother to lean on, who had enough patience for each of her children.

On their way home from the hospital, Evelyn turned around in the front seat of her oldest son's car to look at Jack sitting in the back, who was staring out the window as if in a trance, as she reached out and gently patted his knee, immediately causing him to jump upon being startled, then she quickly apologized, "I am so sorry, Jack. I didn't mean… Are you doing alright?"

He looked at her briefly, then he nodded and responded quietly, "Yes Ma'am."

"Sweetheart, I've told you, you don't have to call me Ma'am or even Mrs. Mercer," the woman replied kindly. "Just call me Evelyn. Everybody else does, except for my boys of course. They use to call me by my name though."

"Trust me, she doesn't like being called Ma'am or anything else like it," Bobby said in agreement.

When the young man didn't say anything in return, Evelyn continued, "I was thinking that later we could go out and buy you some new clothes and some other things, but before we do, how would you like to go out for some pizza? Does that sound good to you? Jack?"

He suddenly answered curtly, "Whatever you want. It's fine. I'm sorry, it's just… It's fine, but I don't need… new clothes. What I have is fine."

"Jackie, you no longer need to worry about not having food to eat or clothes to wear ever again," she spoke again sadly as Bobby looked back at the young man through his rearview mirror while his mother continued speaking to him. "So long as you live with me and my boys, you will always be safe, and warm, and I promise you that you will always have everything you need. You will also have your own room, seeing as both Bobby and Jeremiah will be moving out on their own, but they won't be too far away."

"You don't have to go through any trouble for me," Jack responded in frustration as tears began to form in his eyes, wanting so badly to believe this woman and the other three that were always with him, but too afraid that none of it was real. "None of this will last and I won't be here long. Please, I just want to go someplace where I can be alone, if that's okay."

Evelyn's heart broke upon seeing the hopelessness on the poor boy's face as he turned away from her again, then she turned around again and Bobby reached out to place his hand gently on her knee for comfort. She turned her head and smiled at her oldest, who nodded and then proceeded to just drive home rather than go out like she had suggested. Jeremiah and Angel pulled in behind them as they arrived home and when they did, Evelyn motioned to Bobby for him to take Jack up to his room.

Jack followed him without a word as Bobby stated, "So, uh… listen, this is your room now. It used to be mine, but… I think you'll like it in here. It's away from the others, except for Ma's and there's a view of, well of out front I guess. It's not great, but me, Jerry, and Angel all play hockey on the street down below, as well as down at the skating rink, and you're most definitely welcome to join us. Do you know how to play?"

"If you would like to learn how, I'd be happy to teach you," the older man continued when Jack simply shook his head and sat down on the bed. "So wouldn't the others. Jack, I know that I haven't exactly given you a reason to trust me. I don't blame you for hating me. I did fail you, but I swear that I won't ever let you down again. You're safe here, for as long as you want to be. Now, try to get some rest. We'll be downstairs if you need us."

After Bobby left, Jack leaned forward and pulled off his shoes, then laid down to try to rest like the one brother suggested he do. Falling asleep was easy, but remaining in that state wasn't. He tossed and turned restlessly, moaning in pain from the images of his foster father as he molested him and beat him over and over, as well as of his longtime social worker Rachel, who had abused him on more than one occasion, and finally the woman who had raped him on the night of the monster's party, each of them torturing him in his dreams until he finally bolted upright drenched in sweat as he screamed out, only to find himself still alone in the room given to him by his newest foster family. It wasn't the first time this happened and he knew that it certainly wouldn't be the last.

"Jack? Jack!" Evelyn cried out as she came running into his room upon hearing him scream out and as he stared up at her fearfully, struggling to focus on his surroundings, the woman slowly walked over to stand in front of him until she sat down calmly at the bottom of the bed and raised her hands facing upward once again as a way of proving to him that he was still safe. "It's okay, Jackie. I promise, everything's going to be alright, you'll see."

At first he backed away from her out of fear, still reeling from his nightmares, but while she remained patient and calm as she spoke to him, Jack slowly moved forward until he suddenly reached out and embraced Evelyn tightly as he broke down and cried. This surprised her for sure, but she carefully placed her arms around him as well and held him for as long as he needed her to, while Bobby, Angel, and Jeremiah all stood in the doorway looking on, both in sadness and in relief because they understood that this was the first step toward the young man finally letting them into his life. After a few minutes, the three brothers left in order to give their mother and Jack some privacy.

When he finally released the woman sitting him, Jack spoke up saying quietly, "I'm sorry. I don't… I'm not sure why I… did that."

Evelyn shook her head as she smiled and replied, "You don't ever have to apologize to me, sweetheart. You have done nothing wrong. I wish my own boys would hug me more, but they're all so grown up now."

"Why do you care so much?" he asked worryingly. "Everyone else saw the bad in me and didn't give a damn about what happened to me, but you don't know me at all and you are already asking if I want to be a part of your family. Why?"

"Because, I see the good in you, Jackie," she answered confidently. "You are good and brave. I saw it the moment I first laid eyes on you that day in the market and Bobby, Jeremiah, and Angel, they see it too. That's why we want to help you."

Jack sat back against the wall behind him as he responded, "You are the first people to ever show any kindness toward me at all. Even Rachel was nice at first, but it was only because I was her job. She soon became like all the rest, who..."

Evelyn finished for him, "You mean, like all of the rest who hurt you? Bad things happened to you, I know, but you don't have to share any of it with us unless you want to and certainly not until you are ready. We are here for you, for however long you want us to be."

"I really want to believe that," he replied nervously. "Is there any chance that we could still go out for pizza? I suppose I could use something good to eat for once."

"Of course we can," she answered happily.

Jack seemed to smile genuinely for the first time as Evelyn stood up and motioned for him to follow her downstairs, then when they were preparing to go out, Jack turned to Bobby and said quietly, "I'm sorry for the things I said to you that night in the hospital. I shouldn't have blamed you for not helping me. You didn't know me. I was just angry because I wanted to die. I still do because I'm… I'm not sure how to let it go."

Bobby shook his head sadly, then gently placed his hand on the back of Jack's neck and looked at him straight in his eyes as he stated sincerely, "Don't apologize, especially to me. Do you hear me? You had every right to be upset, Jack. I didn't help you when my gut told me that I should have, but I won't make that mistake again. I meant what I said before. I'm here for you. I hope that I can prove to you one day that you can trust me. You're my brother now too."


	15. Chapter 15

Bleeding Out

Chapter Fifteen

In the middle of the night…

At the police station, Green was standing outside of one of the station's interrogation rooms looking in at Officer Tom Hawley as he sat talking with his lawyer, while the man's partner, Officer Kurt Wahl, was sitting inside another room being interrogated by their captain and another officer. When their captain finally came out of the room, he looked at his man who had revealed the possibility of there being a dirty cop within his department, then turned to look through the window at the man he had accused of being dirty.

"I don't like this, Green," the captain said curtly. "Wahl is clean and he swears that his partner in there did nothing wrong. They've been partners for over seven years. I think that if Hawley really is dirty, then he'd know it."

"Some people are excellent liars, Captain," Green stated in frustration. "I didn't want to believe it either, but…"

The man in charge interrupted angrily, "What makes you really believe those fuck ups over one of our own, huh Green? You said it yourself, these Mercers are all trouble makers."

Green looked at Captain Rhodes as he answered calmly, "Because, I saw this kid for myself, Sir. And when the two Mercer brothers spoke to Hawley, he admitted to knowing that the boy was in trouble, that we wouldn't like what we'd find."

"But that doesn't mean he knew this man was hurting him," the captain responded again in frustration. "It only means that maybe he suspected something bad was going on there."

"If that was the case, wouldn't he still be in the wrong, seeing as he never lifted a finger to even check out his suspicions?" the young officer replied as he moved to the door and turned the handle as he motioned for their captain to go first. "At least let us talk to this man and then you can judge for yourself whether or not he's dirty, please."

As they entered, Officer Hawley was the first to speak up saying nervously, "Captain, thank goodness. Please, you've got to believe me. I didn't do anything wrong. I've been in this department for thirteen years, far longer than Green has and I'm about to make detective for crying out loud! Are you really going to take his word over mine?"

Captain Rhodes stared at the man sitting before him and answered, "I don't know, Tom. Green here makes a pretty compelling argument. I really want to believe you. Please explain to me what you meant when you told Green here that you wouldn't like what he and those punks would find once they got to that house. How do you know this man, this Frank Shepard?"

"Frank Shepard is my friend, Sir," Hawley responded after looking quickly at his lawyer, who only nodded that it was all right for him to answer his questions. "A very good friend. It's just that, I knew that he would sometimes throw these parties that had a tendency to get a little out of hand. I've had a few noise complaints from the neighbors and when I brought the kid home that night, I saw that he was having one of those parties. I warned him to keep it under control. He assured me that he would, so I had no reason to stay to make sure everything was fine. Frank called me up the next morning and said that one of his guest might have hurt his foster son after he and several more of the guests had passed out from drinking too hard. When I went over the next morning to talk to him, it was clear that the kid had been assaulted, but he said he was fine and begged us both not to do anything about it. He was ashamed. You know how abuse victims sometimes act. I told him that I could help him, but the kid still refused to snitch on whoever assaulted him and seeing as he didn't want to press charges, there was nothing more I could do. He's a very troubled young man and him committing suicide later that night wasn't because of anything Frank did to him. Frank is a good man. We had no idea that whatever happened to him was that bad."

"Captain, he's lying," Green replied coldly as he glared at the cop he knew was simply trying to protect himself as well as a monster he knew was Frank Shepard. "He knows the kind of man his friend really is and he has allowed him to get away with it because he's afraid that everyone here will discover his own secret, that he's gay."

Rhodes quickly looked between the two officers in the room with him and then looked at Hawley as he asked mockingly, "Is this true, Tom? Are you really gay?"

Seeing that their captain seemed to buy his story and that he didn't care about Green's accusation, Officer Hawley smiled smugly as he looked up at his accuser and answered, "No Sir, I'm not gay. If I were, don't you think that my own partner would know it? I have no idea where Green would even get such a ridiculous idea."

"Very well," Captain Rhodes responded as he moved toward the door to leave the room. "You're free to go, Tom, but I want your report on this situation pronto. We'll have another talk with your friend, Frank, and if he can confirm your story, then everything should work out for you just fine. Green, let's go. It's too late for this mess and I'm going to go home to finally get some sleep."

"But Sir, you can't seriously believe him?" Green tried to object until the man raised his hands to cut him off, then motioned for him to leave. "Sir?"

The man in charge quickly replied, "Enough! If you really believe he's guilty, then bring me proof. Until then, leave Officer Hawley alone. Is that understood?"

The younger officer nodded as he answered, "Yes, Sir."

Later that morning…

Frank Shepard stepped out of a cab outside of a restaurant downtown and paid the driver, handing him a few bills through the driver's side window, then walked inside and took a seat at one of the booths in the back of the building to wait for someone else, who had called him less than an hour ago saying that they needed to meet urgently. After nearly being killed earlier that evening by one of the Mercer thugs, Frank had to agree with him.

"We shouldn't be meeting up like this, Tom," Frank said nervously when the cop arrived and sat down across from him. "It's too dangerous right now."

"I tried to put off being interrogated for as long as I could, but that officer dragged me in tonight," Officer Hawley responded angrily. "My captain believed me, but Green won't stop trying to prove that our story is bullshit."

His friend replied, "Do you really think that I don't know that? One of those punks threatened me tonight, along with the kid's social worker. She won't turn me in and my lawyer says that they've got no case, but if the brat finds the courage to talk, he can destroy everything for both you and me. Something needs to be done. He has to be put down."

Hawley sighed and then stated coldly, "The question is, how? The Mercers are keeping him close at all times. However, if we can find a way to grab him, we can use him as leverage to get them to back the hell off. It ought to work. And then we'll kill him, or better yet, he'll just kill himself like he wanted to do before those people interfered."


	16. Chapter 16

Bleeding Out

Chapter Sixteen

When Jack awoke early the next morning after another restless night as he struggled to try to sleep without crying out in his dreams, the young man slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes, then looked out the window and noticed that it was still dark out, though the sun was beginning to rise slowly in the distance. Knowing that sleep was futile at this point, he stood and moved to open his door as quietly as possible in hope of not disturbing Evelyn or Angel. Bobby had already gone to stay in his new place he was still in the process of moving into, while Jeremiah was currently staying over at Camille's like he did most nights, as they had yet to begin their search for a place to move into together.

As he did so, he looked down on the floor outside of his door to find a large box containing both old and new clothes, some of which obviously belonged to his new caregiver's sons; jeans, long sleeve shirts, sweaters, socks, a coat, and scarf, as well as a new pair of shoes, all in his size with the exception of the clothes passed down to him. Most of them were too big for him. And on top of everything lay a new toothbrush. Until then, Jack simply used the toothbrushes he had been given while staying in the hospital, but they weren't meant for long term use and he never even thought to ask for one that was. Finding all of these things was a surprise and in truth, Jack wasn't really sure what to think at the moment. He had never been given anything before, so receiving so much from these people who barely knew him was strange, but he was grateful.

Jack lifted the box and carried it inside his room to lay it on the bed, then began to get dressed, choosing an old sweatshirt and one of the new pairs of jeans. He went into the bathroom to wash up and brush his teeth, then walked back into his room as he placed the new toothbrush carefully inside the top drawer of the old dresser and proceeded to lay his socks and boxer shorts over it, still having the habit of keeping his personal things hidden even though it was no longer necessary. Finally, he filled the rest of the drawers with his other clothes and when he was finished, Jack slowly and quietly walked downstairs toward the kitchen. He was startled when he found Evelyn sitting at the table as she was reading the morning paper while drinking a cup of coffee, even though the light was on.

"Good morning, Jack," she spoke softly upon seeing him enter the room. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."

"It's fine," he replied in a whisper, still nervous to talk much around them. "I saw the light… I was just hoping to have something small to eat, but if you prefer to be alone, I can go back upstairs to…"

Evelyn gently reached out to take his hand before he could back away, then quickly responded, "Nonsense. I told you when you first came here that you are more than welcome to come and go around here any time you like and eat whatever you want. Would you like French toast and some scrambled eggs? You see, usually I have trouble getting Angel out of bed, but a nice hot breakfast and a large cup of coffee will usually do the trick. It's early yet, but he won't mind once he's awake."

Jack shook his head as he answered, "You don't have to go through the trouble for me. Cereal is just fine."

"I'm guessing you've never had a hot breakfast before, have you?" she asked again, a hint of sadness sounding in her voice. "Well then, you're in luck. Please, help yourself to some juice or milk from the refrigerator and have a seat. You can have cereal any other morning, but not today. I see you're wearing some of your new clothes. That sweatshirt belonged to Bobby when he was much smaller. I know it's a bit big on you, but then again I am sure that most of those clothes probably are."

"I know I'm scrawny and weak, but…" Jack began to reply uncomfortably until Evelyn suddenly stopped him by placing her hand gently over his cheek to raise his head up so that he was looking at her.

Evelyn looked into his eyes as she said sincerely, "I am sorry for sounding so callous. I simply meant that I wasn't exactly sure of your size, so I made a guess. You may be skin and bones and malnourished, but that is of no fault of your own. And you are not in any way weak, do you hear me, Jackie? You are far stronger than you realize and in time, I hope that you will be able to see it for yourself."

Jack quickly pulled away from her and turned his head down, but before she moved, Jack quietly responded, "Thank you, for the clothes mostly, and the toothbrush. You didn't have to do that, for me."

"Well, you needed one and you can't exactly wear the same clothes you came home from the hospital in now, can you?" the woman answered with a smile. "I don't want to hear another word about them. It was mine and my other boys' pleasure. Now, let's say we get breakfast started and see if we can't wake Angel, mmm?"

A short time later…

"Morning," Bobby called out as soon as he walked in the door, finding his mother, Angel, and Jack sitting around the table eating French toast, bacon, eggs, and toast and quickly joined them as he sat down beside Jack and served himself. "Ma, Angel, Cracker Jack."

Evelyn glared at her oldest as she scolded, "Bobby. Of all the nicknames you could have come up with…"

He looked between her and Jack as he stated with his mouth full, "What? I don't mean anything by it. It's just a name. The kid's white and I mean even whiter than we are. I certainly don't mean it as an insult and besides, I've called both Angel and Jerry far worse. If anything, I mean it as more of a pet name, a term of endearment. You like it, don't you Jackie?"

"Sure, I guess," the youngest replied, even though he didn't like it much at all, but not really wanting to oppose him.

"There now, you see?" Bobby responded as he tapped Jack's shoulder, then winked at him and continued eating.

Evelyn shook her head and smiled once again, then looked between each of her boys as she spoke up saying, "All right. I have a few things to do in the city today, so I would like for the three of you to go and have some fun. And Angel, I believe it's your turn to clean these dishes."

When Angel rolled his eyes, Jack stood from the table as he said quickly, "I can do them. I appreciate the food and I certainly don't expect a free ride. I'd like to help."

"Thanks, Jackie," Angel answered smugly as Jack started cleaning up, then followed his mother out into the entryway, as did Bobby.

"I didn't want to say this in front of Jack, but I want the two of you to look after him for me while I'm out," she stated quietly so that only they could hear her. "I know that you will, but I'm still worried about him. He's trying to hide it, but I know that he had a hard time sleeping again last night."

Bobby looked at her as replied, "We all know that he's going to continue to have a hard time, Ma. I came over today because I was hoping to maybe take him down to the rink for a little hockey. Jerry's gonna meet us all there."

Evelyn nodded and responded, "Good, just don't pressure him if he doesn't want to skate. Is that understood?"

"Don't worry so much, Mom," Angel grumbled. "We're not gonna break him."

A few hours later…

The boys were all driving from the ice rink after having played a few games, while Jack looked on as he watched the brothers beat most of the other players there that afternoon down to the ground. Bobby and Angel were ahead in one car, while Jeremiah drove behind in his own with the newest member of their family in the passenger seat. When Bobby pulled into a gas station to get gas, the middle brother waved to them as he passed by and continued on toward home, then he looked over at Jack and noticed that he had been silent the whole ride so far.

"So, have you ever skated before?" Jerry asked casually in hope of getting the kid to break away from his thoughts.

Jack shook his head and then answered, "It's not that I didn't want to try, it's just… I'm still a bit sore."

It suddenly donned on him what Jack really meant as he was still hurting from the terrible things that his previous caregivers had done to him, then Jeremiah replied, "God, Jack I'm so sorry. We didn't think. Believe me, if we had, we would have asked you what you wanted to do instead."

"It's all right," Jack responded until a siren sounded from behind them as both he and Jeremiah looked back to see a patrol car as the officer turned on the lights indicating that they wanted them to pull over.

"What in the hell is this about?" Jeremiah asked rhetorically as he did what the cop wanted and pulled over to the side of the road. "It's not like I was speeding."

The cop got out of his patrol car and started walking toward them, his hat's visor pulled down far enough so that his face was hidden as he did so and when he came around to the driver's window, the man suddenly raised his head so that his face could be seen and quickly pulled up his gun, causing Jeremiah to stiffen and Jack to back up against the back of his seat in fear upon seeing Officer Hawley, who said calmly, "Hello again, Jack. I need you both to listen to me very carefully and don't think about trying to do anything stupid."

Jeremiah quickly looked over at Jack and saw panic in his eyes, then he turned to the cop again and asked angrily, "You're that dirty cop my brothers told me about, aren't you?"

"Jack, I want you to get out of the car right now and walk with me," Tom answered, ignoring the man sitting beside the kid.

"There's no way in hell I'm letting you take my brother anywhere," Jerry replied as he started to move until Hawley swiftly struck him hard across his head with the butt of his gun, then turned it back on Jack, who nervously began to do as he was told.

Hawley became agitated as he shouted, "A little faster, kid! Hurry up. So help me, if you try to fight me, I will kill your new friend here and I know you don't want me to do that."

Jack finally got out of the car, moving around the front of it until he was standing beside the officer while Hawley suddenly fired several rounds from his weapon into the engine in order to keep Jeremiah from driving after them as he grabbed the kid roughly by the back of his neck, shoved him forward as he suddenly struck Jeremiah once more, then continued to drag Jack back to his car and as they drove off, Jeremiah struggled to get out, using one of his hands to reach up to the now bleeding gash on his forehead as he cried out, "Jack!"


	17. Chapter 17

Bleeding Out

Chapter Seventeen

Bobby finished filling up his car and then he and Angel continued driving along the same street until they came up on a rundown car pulled over to the side of the road, suddenly realizing it to be their brother when they saw him leaning heavily against the side of the vehicle with his hand over his head and fumbling to pull out his cell phone.

The oldest pulled his car over again in front of his brother's, then he and Angel quickly jumped out as Bobby looked inside the car for the kid and shouted, "Jerry! Are you alright? What the fuck happened? Where's Jack?"

When they rushed to his side, they saw he was bleeding, from the gash on his forehead, but Jeremiah pushed Angel's hands away as he responded angrily, "That son of a bitch took him; Jack!"

"What are you talking about, who took him?" Bobby asked again. "Do you mean Frank Shepard?"

"No," the middle brother answered in frustration while keeping his hand over his head, then continued. "That frickin' cop you guys made friends with, Officer Hawley. He pulled me over in his patrol car. He kept his head down so that his hat covered his face as he walked toward us, I had no idea we were in trouble until he was at my door and suddenly pulled out his gun. I knew something wasn't right, but I wasn't fast enough. He took Jack, struck me in the head with the butt of his gun a couple of times and threatened to kill me if Jack didn't go with him without a fight. Damn it, I let that bastard nab him!"

Angel shook his head and replied coldly, "Damn son of a bitch shot at least five holes into the engine and radiator in order to keep Jerry from going after him. He must have been watching us. Waited until the right moment to nab Jack."

Bobby spoke again saying, "Shepard's willing to do whatever it takes to stay out of prison and Hawley's helping him. There's no way the bastard's just going along with Frank because he wants to keep the secret that he's gay. We've got to find them!"

"We've got to tell Mom that I failed to protect Jack," Jeremiah responded nervously.

"That we failed to protect Jack," Bobby corrected, then kicked his brother's car out of anger. "We all let him down, but I swear we're going to find him and then kill the motherfuckers so help me."

Angel glared at Bobby as he asked, "And how are we supposed to do that? We have no clue where to even start and it's not like Hawley and Frank are going to be stupid enough to go back home."

Jeremiah thought for a moment and then answered, "We need to go back and talk to Green again. He's a cop who's on our side, at least in this. The rest of the police force won't believe anything we say…"

"But Green does," Bobby finished for him. "And at least whatever we do, we'll have a cop to back us up. Good thinking, Jerry. Although it's certainly going to make it a bit harder to kill them when we're done. They can't live after this. If we do find him, Jack will never feel safe if Frank and Hawley ain't dead."

"I agree," Jeremiah replied, while Angel simply nodded. "Where'd Mom say she was going earlier?"

Angel shrugged and responded, "I don't think she did. Call her."

Bobby was already on it as he dialed their mom's number and waited for her to pick up, then as she did, he quickly asked, "Ma, you've got to get home right away. Something bad happened."

" _Are you boys… Jack,_ " she answered fearfully, quickly realizing that her son was calling because something bad must have happened to her youngest after everything that's happened lately. " _Bobby, what happened? Is he alright?_ "

"No, I mean, I don't know, Ma," he replied in frustration. "That cop took him, hurt Jerry a little to grab him. Just get home right now and we'll explain everything."

She finally responded, " _I'm on my way._ "

After she hung up, Bobby looked between his brothers, then walked back to his car, as they followed after him and once they were driving again, not caring that they just left their other car abandoned behind them, the older man looked over at Angel and said coolly, "Call Green, tell him to get his ass to our house too. Hopefully he can get there before Ma so that we won't have to explain everything twice."

Fifteen minutes later, both Green and their mother had arrived as Evelyn began to fuss over her middle son's injury despite his assurances that he was okay and the three brothers quickly shared with them what happened and explained how Hawley must have known when to kidnap Jack and why he and Frank would want more than just revenge.

"What you're saying makes sense," Green finally stated when they finished. "If they just wanted revenge for their impending downfall, they would have just killed Jack and probably all of you too, or at least you boys. No, they're definitely looking to use the kid as leverage to stay out of prison, which means…"

"Which means what, Officer Green?" Evelyn asked curtly. "That they won't kill him just yet? Jack's already been through hell because of these men and countless others. The longer that he's in any of their hands… Oh God!"

Bobby pulled their mother into his arms to try to comfort her and continued for her, "Jack was making progress here. He was slowly starting to get better, but this is going to set him back and if we don't find him soon, we're going to lose him, even if we do manage to find him before they can kill him."

Green understood as he answered, "You mean he's going to want to try to kill himself again, I understand."

"Wouldn't you if you finally started believing you could be safe, only to have that ripped out from under you again?" Angel growled. "What are we going to do?"

"Jeremiah, are you positive that this cop was Officer Hawley?" Green asked when he turned to the middle brother.

Jerry glared at the man as he barked angrily, "Are you saying that I'm lying?"

The officer quickly corrected himself, "No, I only meant that you haven't actually met the man and unless Jack mentioned his name when he saw him…"

"Jack didn't have a chance to say his name," the brother replied coldly. "He was too freaked out by seeing the son of a bitch again. Why would any other cop want to help Frank Shepard kidnap a fourteen year old kid?"

"I had to ask," Green responded in frustration. "I got hell from my captain for trying to go after Hawley without proof. There's no way I'm going to get any help from the department on this. We're completely alone."

Bobby grinned as he answered smugly, "The fewer the cops the better. Where do we start?"

Their friend replied, "I know that we're not going to find these monsters at either of their houses, but it's possible that we might find something in them that could lead us to where they might have taken Jack. Normally I would put a BOLO out on our suspects, but as we are alone…"

"No extra help, got it," Angel responded as he went to the cabinet in the living room, then pulled out a 9 mm, and checked its chamber to make sure that it was loaded and was in working order. "I've got all the help I need."

"I know what's at stake here and I realize that you boys are going to be going up against evil, but I want to make sure that you all understand me when I say that I only want you to use that weapon, any of your weapons you might have, as a last resort," Evelyn spoke again as she moved to stand between her sons. "Do you understand me?"

Bobby answered for himself and his brothers, "Don't worry about us, Ma. We'll be fine and we're going to get Jack back too. I promise."

She placed her hand over her mouth to keep herself from falling apart as she sat down on the couch and replied by saying a small prayer, "Dear God, please protect my children in their fight and give Jack the strength he needs to survive."


	18. Chapter 18

Bleeding Out

Chapter Eighteen

Jack slowly awoke as he rubbed his eyes with one hand, then reached up to his forehead when pain suddenly flooded through him and as he did so, he felt a stickiness come off onto his fingers, finding that he was bleeding, though the blood was mostly dry now. However, Jack didn't remember being struck and knocked unconscious, let alone how he ended up like this until he tried moving his other arm only to find that his wrist was handcuffed to a metal grate above him. All of a sudden, he remembered his former caregiver's cop friend threatening to kill Jeremiah if he didn't go with him and fear began to overwhelm him as he struggled to get a sense of his surroundings, though it was difficult as the small, cold space was nearly dark except for the small amount of light shining in just above him from what appeared to be a street light.

He didn't remember much more than that, other than Hawley striking Jeremiah and then shooting his car multiple times to prevent him from trying to follow after them. Jack realized that he didn't know if Jeremiah was even alright. He was coming to care for Evelyn Mercer and her three sons who had been in the system like him and became afraid that him coming into their lives might have hurt them in ways that they never knew his worthless life could.

He wasn't awake for long when voices could be heard from above him and Jack struggled to scoot back as close to the wall and make himself as small as he could before two shadows appeared above him and he could just make out Frank Shepard's and Officer Hawley's faces as the cop worked to unlock the padlock for the grate and finally the cuffs to release his wrist, then he was finally yanked out of his holding as Frank grabbed him by his hair and the back of his neck like he's always done since Jack had moved in with him almost a year ago.

"I told you that you'd never be rid of me, Jack," Frank said cruelly as he shoved him forward and together he and Hawley dragged him inside what Jack could now see was a condemned structure down in the depths of Detroit where most of the homeless, drug dealers and addicts, hookers, and gang members hid out from the police as well as the respectable members of the community. "Now what exactly did you tell your new family about me, huh?"

"I didn't…" the young man began until Frank's grip on his neck tightened upon him believing Jack had already started to lie to him. "I didn't tell them anything. I didn't have to. They saw it for themselves."

Frank backhanded him hard across his face causing him to fall to the ground, then Tom asked, "What are you talking about?"

Jack held the back of his hand to his cheek against the pain as he glared up at the two men and answered coldly, "They're the ones that found me that night with my wrists slashed to hell, didn't they? The Mercers were with me every second I was in that hospital and brought me home to live with them. They saw what you did. I didn't have to say anything to them. You told me that no one would ever care about me, but they do. I believed you before, but not anymore."

"You cocky little bastard," Frank replied angrily as he grabbed him by the front of his sweatshirt to pull him back up off the floor, then dragged him into a small room where Jack and Hawley could see that a dirty mattress had been placed on the floor up against the far wall. "You think you've got guts now because somebody actually showed you a little bit of kindness? I'm just going to have to work harder in order to knock it back out of you, won't I?"

"Frank, come on you don't have to do this," the police officer tried to object as his friend knocked Jack back down to the ground again by punching him in his face, then pulled off his belt and struck Jack hard across his back even though he was still fully clothed in order to elicit another cry from the kid. "Please, I know that I brought him here so that he can't ruin us, but do you really have to do… to do whatever sick, twisted thing that you've got in mind?"

The monster glared back at his friend, while Jack remained on the floor as he covered his face with his arms as if in shame, and then responded, "I have to prove to this worthless shit that he's going to die all alone, after I rip away from him the tiny bit of dignity he might have fooled himself into believing he had. Stay and watch if you like. Otherwise, make yourself useful and go out and keep watch for those Mercers if you're so afraid that they'll actually come for him. You knew what I planned to do to him before you agreed to grab him for me. Don't go soft on me now. Remember, I know your dirty little secret too. You murdered that whore you raped after you finished fucking him because you couldn't handle your shame when you first discovered that you were gay."

Hawley looked at Frank worryingly as he asked, "Are you saying that you'll turn me in after everything I've done for you?"

"Only if your cowardice gets us both caught," the man answered smugly. "Now, get out of here."

"I'm sorry, kid," Tom stated curtly when he looked down at the boy curled up on the floor and staring off into nothing while tears silently rolled down his cheeks as he waited for his hell to start all over again, then the cop finally left them alone in the room.

Jack was startled from his black void as his tormentor suddenly sat down across the back of his legs after forcing him over onto his stomach and began to rip off his sweatshirt and undershirt so that his back was bare, then moved again to kneel beside him with one knee still on the back of his legs to keep him pinned down against the cold floor as he began to strike him over and over with his leather belt, the buckle biting into his skin and tearing it away. Jack screamed in agony until Frank finally stopped his torture as the kid's voice grew raw and became barely conscious.

When he was finished, the man cruelly stared down at his work seeing that Jack's back was bloody and shredded. There were also deep scratches and lacerations along his arms, across his chest, and along his face as the young man beneath him tried to fight against him until his strength gave out. Frank smiled as he stood up again and lifted the young man off the floor, then shoved him down heavily against the mattress, rolled him over onto his tortured back, and proceeded to pull off the rest of his clothes until Jack was stripped naked. Once he was naked too, he laid across him and began to kiss his neck, using his tongue and his teeth to nibble on him like he was a piece of meat, then licked the sides of his face to wipe away his tears and the blood that was smeared there until Frank began kissing him passionately while he held his face tightly in his hands and finally forced himself inside him, brutally molesting him in order to stimulate several whimpers from him until Jack could no longer take the pain as he mercifully passed out after being tormented for over an hour.

Frank felt Jack fall limp beneath him and as he leaned up, he looked down at the young man with pride over his accomplishment. The man remained on top of the kid, reached out to grab his shirt that he had discarded and pulled it on, then did the same with his underwear and pants and finally stood in order to pull them on as well. He walked to the door and left the room, leaving Jack inside unconscious, then walked around the building in search of Hawley and when he found him, the cop was staring out a window at the vacant snow covered streets below and the snow flurries as they fell from the sky.

Frank knew that his friend could hear him approach him as he spoke up first asking carelessly, "Have I missed any action going on out there tonight?"

Tom refused to look back at him, feeling disgusted by his actions, as he replied coolly, "I wouldn't think you cared, seeing as you got your own action a short time ago. I heard that kid's screams. You're sick, Frank. I never should have let you weasel your way into my mess all those years ago."

"But you did, and now you have to live with yourself," the man responded smugly. "Whether it's out here as a free man or as a convicted felon rotting inside a penitentiary somewhere, it's no matter to me."

"So, what now?" Hawley asked worryingly as he finally looked back at Frank and noticed the splotches of blood smeared on his hands and clothes. "Are you going to let the kid in there bleed to death now that you've had your way with him, or leave him to get sick until his body gives out? What about the Mercers? You seem to think that they're no longer a threat to us just because you have him, but you said it yourself, one of the men came to try to kill you. He may not have then, but he certainly will now and so will his brothers."

Shepard said coldly, "They won't touch us because we have him. They won't risk Jack getting caught in a crossfire."

Tom shook his head as he spoke up saying, "Whatever you say, Frank."


	19. Chapter 19

Bleeding Out

Chapter Nineteen

After a few minutes of continuing to stare outside the window, Frank finally turned and started walking away having grown bored, then walked over to a sink which was still in working order to clean himself up a little as he called out again to his friend saying, "So, I have a few errands I have to run and I'll be gone for a little bit. I have to check on my actual kids to make sure that they're okay and then a few other things. Do you think you can handle keeping an eye on the kid for me while I'm out?"

Officer Hawley nodded gently, then looked at the man as he asked, "What kind of errands could you possibly have right now? The snow's getting worse out there and those Mercers are going to be out looking for the both of us. Do you really want to risk getting yourself caught?"

"We need to eat, don't we?" Frank replied smugly. "Besides, there's someone I need to go see, who can get us out of town. She'll help us. Believe me, she won't rat us out, not without ratting herself out too. She's had her own pleasure with Jack."

"Just how many people know about your sick fascination with that boy?" Tom asked in frustration. "Have you pimped him out to everybody you've met?"

The monster glared back at the cop as he answered angrily, "First of all, I don't pimp him out to anyone. I'm no pimp. I choose my friends very carefully in order to make sure that I get what I want without risk of getting caught."

Hawley grabbed the man's arm as he shouted, "And all that may have been good, until a few weeks ago when that kid in there managed to escape and nearly got himself run over by that tough guy! If you weren't so stupid to think that by letting Jack loose all the time, to roam around freely was okay, then he never would have gotten out, the Mercers never would have become involved, and you and me wouldn't be on the run trying to hide from these thugs who will kill us the first chance that they get. You screwed up, Frank!"

"And I am going to fix it!" he responded in frustration. "Just calm down and do what I asked. Do you think you can handle that, Tom?"

"Yeah, I can babysit until you get back," the officer replied coldly. "Don't forget to bring me back some dinner and if you want the kid to live past tonight, then I suggest you bring him back a little something too."

Frank smiled and started walking away again as he called back, "Don't worry so much, Tom! He'll be fine and so will we!"

Meanwhile…

While Jeremiah and Angel were on their own across town searching Frank Shepard's house, Bobby and Green were busy searching Officer Hawley's apartment and after being there for almost forty minutes without finding anything, the oldest Mercer brother was growing impatient and he finally cried out in frustration, "What the hell are we doing here, Green? This is getting us nowhere! It's obvious that this dirty cop's not as dumb as you thought and Jack is counting on us!"

"You need to stay calm, Bobby," Green answered quietly. "I know that this is a longshot, but it's a place to start. I am sure that the kid knows that you and your brothers will stop at nothing to find him, so he'll hold on for as long as he has to."

"What if that's not true, huh?" Bobby asked again even angrier as he continued to pull out papers from the nightstand beside Hawley's bed, then chucked them across the room. "We promised him that he'd be safe from now on and already we proved that to be a lie."

Green nodded and then looked back at him and responded, "Just try to stay positive. I think Jack's stronger than you think he is."

Bobby shook his head and replied, "I know he is, but there's only so much a person can take before whatever strength he might have is snuffed out. He came into our family faster than the rest of us have, but we all already see him as our kid brother. We can't lose him now. I won't lose him now."

"Then, quit your complaining and get back to work," Green answered smugly. "Remember, we're here without a warrant and even though we got permission from this cop's landlord to search his apartment, it's still not exactly legal. I'm only doing this because a kid's life is at stake. And for the record, I really hate that you and your brothers dragged me into doing this."

"I know," the Michigan Mauler responded with a smile when all of a sudden his cell phone began to ring. "Believe me, I do. Yo Angel, talk to me?"

On the other end of the line, his brother spoke up saying, " _Hey, we didn't find much here at Shepard's place, man, but we did discover that he sent his four younger kid's to be looked after by someone while he's missing. We just don't know who they're with and we don't know what happened to the man's oldest son._ "

Bobby looked at Green as he thought for a moment and replied, "Well we know that the son of a bitch was married until his wife died, right? I mean, maybe he placed his kids with some of the woman's family."

"Whoa, whoa, hold on," Green quickly cut in. "Even if that's true, we can't just go and disturb everybody involved in this sick freak's life. This is becoming too complicated."

"For who, for his family or for you, Green?" the other man asked accusingly.

The officer grabbed onto the collar of Bobby's leather jacket as he glared at his friend and answered angrily, "Listen, I need you to stop acting like I'm one of the bad guys here and start trusting me, or so help me, I will have your ass thrown in prison, along with each of your brothers until this whole mess is over. Is that understood?"

Bobby raised his hands as if in surrender, then responded, "All right. Can you let me go now, please?"

" _Hey, are you still there, Bobby?_ " Angel asked impatiently when no one spoke to him for over a minute.

"Yeah, sorry about that, brother," the oldest Mercer son replied as he continued to look over at the cop standing before him. "Look, Green's actually right about it being a bad idea to go and question all of this bastard's family members. It'd take too much time and would cause a whole lot of trouble for us that we can't afford to get into right now. Besides, the younger kids probably don't know a thing, but Frank's older son… Now I'm guessing he knows something. I saw the smug look on his face that day at the hospital too. He was there when Frank tried to get Jack to kill himself again and I'll bet he knows where his father might be. We need to find this kid. Any clue to where he might be?"

Angel answered, " _Not yet, but me and Jerry will keep looking._ "

Green smiled as Bobby hung up, then responded, "I am glad you came around to see things my way. Let's get back to work."


	20. Chapter 20

Bleeding Out

Chapter Twenty

Across town…

Frank got out of his car in the parking lot of a bar that wasn't as busy as most of the others on a Friday night, then went inside and took a seat at the bar to order a drink. It wasn't long before he heard a voice behind him whispering in his ear as she asked coyly, "Are you looking for me, sugar?"

He smiled and turned around as he responded, "Hello again, Mel. I really appreciate you meeting me here. Would you like something to drink? It's my treat, the least I can do for what you're helping me with."

"Remind me again what it is you want from me, after of course you buy me a Bloody Mary," she replied as she walked over to have a seat at a booth behind him and waited for the man to come over to join her with a drink for her in his hand.

"I need your help and for what I did for you, for letting you… you know, have your way with my kid a few weeks ago so that you could get the relief you were looking for," Shepard answered after having a seat across from her, then pushed the cocktail she asked for in front of her. "I need to get out of Detroit for awhile, with Jack, and I would like what I asked for, for my oldest son as well. I'm leaving the rest of my kids here with my wife's sister and her husband, but Kevin wants to come with me. Ten grand, just like I promised."

Mel continued looking at him with a smile on her face as she responded, "So, you would like falsified documents that will allow you to change your name, your eighteen year son's name, and that special boy of yours' name so that you will be free to live in some other state, just in case that cop Hawley might have snitched on you, or the other one put out a BOLO on you both, is that right?"

Frank nodded as he replied, "It will only be for a little while, until those damn Mercers have forgotten about me. The cops can't touch me, but they won't quit. Then, I can come back and we can finish where we took off. What do you say?"

"I can help you, but it's going to cost you more than just a few grand," she answered smugly. "I want you to leave the kid here with me."

"No way in hell, Jack is mine," he responded angrily. "I told you that back when I first told you about him. The only reason why I finally let you near him was because I felt sorry for you, because you had gotten yourself addicted to sex with kids like people get addicted to drugs and cigarettes and you were hurting because you hadn't gotten a fix for months."

Mel grabbed his wrist as she replied coldly, "And if you try to leave with that boy, he will die. Is that what you really want? I saw how he looked after the cruelty you forced on him that night after I left his room. He was ill and I can only imagine how he is doing now, especially after you kidnapped from a place that he finally felt safe in. I know you and your fucking temper, Frank, but I also know how much you really like this one, more than that other kid you allowed yourself to taste while your wife was in the hospital. At least with me, I can keep him alive for you for when you come back. What does Kevin really have to say about your little habit? Does he approve of his father having a fancy for young boys that could have been him? Did he ask you if you ever wanted to love him like you love Jack?"

The cruel man grabbed the back of her neck tightly in order to pull her close to him so that their faces were practically touching, then he answered furiously, "My son is my business and only my business, not yours. Do you understand me? Forget it, it's the money I promised or no deal. Jack is my only bargaining chip in case I run into trouble. I suggest you accept and give me the documents, or I will kill you. How does that sound?"

Inside the condemned building…

Jack slowly began to come to upon feeling something cool being pressed up against his forehead and then his neck, and when he finally managed to weakly open his eyes, he saw the blurry form of someone leaning over him as he or she continued wiping what he could now tell was a wet wash cloth across his brow and the upper half of his body, but all of a sudden Jack struggled to pull away until the person reached across his chest and grabbed his arm tightly to hold him still.

"Take it easy kid," a man the young man could know see was Officer Hawley said coolly while he continued to hold him. "I'm only trying to clean you up. We can't have you dying of an infection."

"Don't worry, I covered you up a little," Tom stated again while he continued his treatment as he released his hold and noticed Jack try to look down to see that his sweatshirt now lay over the lower part of his body so that he was no longer completely naked as his former caregiver had left him. "I can't risk being tempted."

Tears fell from his eyes again as Jack weakly tried to speak whimpering, "Plea… he… help me. Please…"

Hawley shook his head as a tear slipped down from his own eye as he responded disturbingly, "I can't do that. He'll ki… kill me if I take you… out of here. I know that I deserve to die for… for what I let him do to you, for the kind of man that I've… that I've become, but I can't… God, what is it about you that has him and others… so fascinated in what you do for them?"

Jack's eyes became more frightened as he tried to look at the man leaning over him and could now see a sadness in the cop's face, though it was clear that the sadness wasn't for him, but for himself as a more sadistic look crossed his face as Hawley nervously reached down to the young man's leg that was slightly elevated off of the bed and gently rubbed his fingers over his skin just beneath his knee, then slowly began to work his way down lower until he let go of the rag and pulled the sweatshirt away again as he began to use both of his hands to continue stoking the insides of his thighs.

Jack whimpered again as he weakly began to struggle to break free and clawed his nails deep into the skin of his attacker's neck when Tom suddenly backhanded him hard across his face to make him still, then forced himself over on top of him and began to kiss him forcefully like Frank had until he suddenly stopped to regain control over his breath.

"I'm so… sorry," Tom cried weakly as he stared into Jack's glossy eyes and the streaks smeared across his cheeks, then reached down to unbuckle his belt and unzipped his pants, but didn't pull them down, only pulled back the cloth and laid over Jack again so that he could feel the young man in the way that Frank and others had. "I've always been weak too."

As the second molester forced his way inside him, Jack cried out when his pain flared hotter than before, but couldn't fight against the man as he held him down with a death like grip around his arms. Tom felt him trembling violently as he began to kiss his lips, his neck, and his chest while he placed one hand over Jack's mouth in order to keep him from crying out so that he wouldn't have to listen to his sobbing any longer while his torment continued, having already heard enough.

The rape didn't last more than fifteen minutes when Officer Hawley pulled himself off of the young man, zipped up his pants again, and stood as he ran his fingers through his hair and fearfully stared down at Jack, whose eyes were still slightly opened, but had gone eerily vacant in a way that made him feel that he might have killed him. He quickly knelt down beside him as he placed his hand over his nose and mouth to feel for a breath, then put his fingers down against his neck to feel for a pulse. It was there, but it was weak.

Tom breathed out a sigh of relief, then reached into his coat's pocket, the coat which he had discarded over a chair sitting nearby when he first entered the room, and pulled out a small derringer with a single shot that he always carried with him in case he ever needed an extra weapon.

"I know that this won't make up for what I've done to you," Hawley spoke again quietly as he eyed the piece in his hand. "But at least… at least if you feel like it, you can choose to die on your own terms and not by that other bastard's."

Finally, Tom hurriedly pulled Jack's boxers back over the lower half of his body to show him a small bit of kindness that Frank hadn't been so inclined to show for him, then tucked the gun beneath the mattress, and just before leaving the room, he stated once more, "I'm sorry."


	21. Chapter 21

Bleeding Out

Chapter Twenty-One

"If you want to see your kids, we want to know what's going on Frank," a woman spoke worryingly as she and her husband stood in front of the door of their home in order to bar her brother in law from entering inside. "What is with all the secrecy and why are you trying to leave them here with us for, well for however long you're asking us to take care of them for you? Did you do something?"

"I thought you knew me better than that Jessica," Frank answered calmly. "I promise you, I didn't do anything, except that a group of thugs nearly killed me the other night because I had to stop them from trying to hurt Jack a few weeks ago."

The woman's husband looked at him in confusion as he stated, "Jack, you mean that kid you and Donna took in a year ago, your adopted son? Why would these guys attack a kid and why would they come after you weeks later?"

The vile man was growing impatient, but he didn't want to blow his last opportunity to see his younger children before he had to leave Detroit, so he remained stoic as he responded, "I don't know, other than that they are probably angry with me for stopping them from having their sick little fun with my boy. These bastards were going to rape him, had him nearly naked before I got there with one of my guns to scare them off with."

"Oh my God, that's awful!" Jessica cried sadly as she put her hand to her mouth.

"Did you go to the police?" her husband asked again.

Frank nodded as he replied, "Of course I did. And they arrested them, but they're all out on bail. One of the first things they did was come after me and Jack and so he and I are going to disappear for awhile until they end up back behind bars. I need you to look after my children for me, but I would like to see them again just to make sure that they will be all right once I leave. Please, Jessica; Darren?"

The woman finally relented as she and Darren both walked back into their home and invited Frank to follow as they went to go and see the kids. When he finished speaking with them, his sister and brother in law walked him back out into the entryway to let him out as Jessica pulled him in for a hug, then let him loose.

As Frank walked outside and began to walk to his car in the driveway, Darren called out to him again asking, "Wait, where's Kevin at? Will he be coming to stay with us too?"

"Kevin has found his own place to move into, now that he's eighteen," he answered and then looked back at his wife's family. "He's been wanting to get his own place for some time now. I finally agreed to let him so long as he has the money to pay the rent himself. Look, I really hate to rush off. I know that it's been a long time since I've come over with the kids, but things have been, well difficult since Donna died. I need to go. I have lots to do. Thank you both, again. Take care of them for me. I will call soon and then send you a letter to let you know where I'll be once we get someplace we can be safe. Goodbye."

Once he was on his way again, Frank continued driving to one last place before he knew he would need to get back to the condemned site to make sure that his cop friend was still taking care of the kid in his charge. It was twenty-five minutes later that he pulled into a driveway belonging to an empty, newly built condo currently on the real-estate market for sale inside some community with a dozen other houses for sale as well, then walked up to the door and knocked, waiting for his oldest son to let him inside.

"I'm glad you made it, Dad," Kevin said as soon as his father was all the way in so that he could close the door behind him. "A friend of mine told me about this place. We won't be able to stay for more than a night, but we'll be perfectly fine for tonight. Why don't you stay here with me instead of down at that hellhole you cooped yourself up in in the worst part of the city?"

Frank looked around and then finally back at his son as he responded, "I'd like to, but I don't want to bring my sins anywhere that you are, which is why I still think that it's best that you stay here, in Detroit I mean. Stay at home and look after the house for me while I'm gone. I trust you, you know that, right?"

The eighteen year old shook his head and replied, "Look, I already told you how much I hate your twisted fixation to Jack, but I want to come with you. You're getting out of Detroit and I've been wanting to ever since Mom died. I care about what happens to you. And you promised me that you would keep your urges under control. Why don't you just forget about Jack? Do something to get him to end his own life like we tried before and then that way, we can all just disappear and everything can go back to normal. Why do you have to keep Jack around?"

"I promise you Kevin, he's only with me as an insurance policy," the father figure answered nervously. "Those people want to kill me and if they find out that the kid is dead, they will blame me and finish what they started last night. But once I've disappeared for awhile and I know that I'm safe, Jack is as good as dead."

"I really want to believe you, but you were willing to kill him that day in the hospital when I first found out and now you don't seem to want to anymore," Kevin responded in frustration. "I can see that you still feel something for him. You said it yourself, you said that Jack seduced you and made you, like him the way that you do, but once we're out of here and safe in some other city, those brothers won't be able to find you. Once we're gone, you can kill Jack then. Will you just let him go, for me? They'll never know what will have become of him and we'll all be free."

Frank smiled at his boy as he replied, "What did I just tell you? Yes, once we're safe from here and I am no longer living in fear of those brothers coming to kill me, then I will finish that kid off once and for all. I'm proud of you. You've got my stamina. Are you sure you will be safe here for tonight, until I get everything settled for our trip out of town? I will give you a call in the morning and then you can come to the place where we're hiding out. By then, Officer Hawley will be out of the picture too. It will be just the three of us."

Kevin nodded and spoke again saying, "I'll be fine. Look, I really don't care about what you do to Jack, but please don't become a killer by killing that cop. He may be an idiot, but he is a cop and law enforcement, especially here in Detroit, hates cop killers. Killing Hawley will land you in prison for sure and I don't want to see that happen to you. Be careful, Dad. I'll see you tomorrow."


	22. Chapter 22

Bleeding Out

Chapter Twenty-Two

It was late by the time Frank arrived back at the condemned site with food for himself and for Officer Hawley and when he walked inside, he found his friend sitting at the window again, just where he left him, except that he had taken the chair that was once inside the room where his captive was and moved it out to where he sat now. Frank also saw that the cop had his gun out and resting on his knee while he kept a loose hold on it, though his grip tightened as soon as he began to approach.

"So, did anything happen while I was gone, or have you actually been sitting here, staring out the window all night?" the man asked as he cautiously walked toward him and handed Tom the dinner he had brought for him, which was when he first noticed the new scratches along his neck despite the cop trying to hide them by pulling up his collar. "Where the hell did those come from? You brought the chair out here, did you do anything to my kid?"

"He isn't your kid, Frank," Hawley replied coldly as he finally turned his head to look at him. "You treat him like you own him."

The other man responded angrily, "I do own him! Did you touch him?"

Tom stood up and raised his gun to point it at his old friend, it being obvious he was incredibly ashamed with himself, as he answered despicably, "I couldn't help myself! You of all people would understand that as you've given into his temptations yourself. I only wanted to check on him, to treat his wounds and the next thing I knew, I was moving my body off of his God only knows how much later, and I thought… thought I had killed him. He wasn't making a sound, not even a whimper. He was simply staring down at nothing with these barely opened, vacant eyes. He's practically comatose in there. We broke him, Frank."

"No, you broke him," Frank retorted in frustration, then walked toward the room to check on the kid for himself, despite the gun still being trained on him until he disappeared.

The caregiver walked over to stand above Jack, then knelt down beside him as he pulled his head toward him by grabbing hold of his chin, and saw that the boy was now sleeping, or rather unconscious, as he could feel a fever setting in, despite how cold the room was and how cold his skin felt to his touch.

"He needs medical treatment," the cop spoke up from behind him when he also entered the room to watch as Frank looked Jack over. "Why did you have to beat him with your belt first? He wouldn't have been able to get away from you."

Frank replied coolly, "He needed to learn that it was wrong of him to think that he was free of me."

Tom finally put his gun away again and then responded, "Yeah, well your lesson is going to kill him if you don't get him out of here and at least some place warm, and his wounds treated properly. I tried to clean them with water and a washcloth, but you know how well that went."

"It isn't just my beating that's killing him," the man answered after leaning in closer to take his face in his hands and kissed his forehead gently as if he actually cared for him. "His body is shutting down. A doctor might be able to treat his wounds and the fever, but I'm afraid he's gone."

"What do you mean, gone?" Hawley asked in confusion as Frank lit a cigarette he pulled from his coat pocket and began to smoke it. "Do you mean gone, as in… he's fallen so far back into his mind that he'll never wake up again?"

Frank pulled the stick from his mouth, touched the burning end down against the young man's neck again to burn the area like he had done before, not even producing a twitch or a sound from his lips, then stood up and smiled at his friend as he replied, "Exactly. It's a shame, I really did love him. It looks like he won't be coming with us after all."

Tom laid his hands on his head in a panic as he responded, "Oh my God, I never should have given in. I never wanted this!"

"You need to relax, Tom," the monster answered in attempt to calm his friend down a little. "This is good for us. The kid won't be able to tell anybody anything anymore. We'll disappear for a little while to where we can start a new life for ourselves and then we'll be free to return if we want to. No one will be able to touch us."

"I don't want a new life!" the cop shouted as he shoved Frank Shepard away from him and walked back out into the main room. "I want mine back, before I became like you. I never should have let you drag me into your sick, twisted world."

The man shouted back, "If I recall, you dragged me into yours that night after that raid on that whore house, right here in this very place. Let me remind you of the details. Years ago, five years ago I believe, you found a hooker lying naked on a bed inside a hidden room, beaten to hell and begging for you to help him, but instead of doing that, you felt drawn to him. It terrified you, but you suddenly felt your body aching for his to touch yours and you eventually gave in because you knew that no one would miss him any longer. You closed the door, made sure that none of your other colleagues would find the room, waited to be the only cop left behind to finish securing the building, then you fucked him and it felt wonderful. However, your assault eventually led to you having to kill him so that he couldn't talk, couldn't tell anyone about the monster that you had become. And finally you came to me to help you to cover it up because you freaked out. We've been friends since high school and you knew even back then that I wasn't right in the head like you liked to keep reminding me. You knew there was something evil in me and yet you remained my friend because deep down you knew it was in you too, even though you refused to admit it to yourself. Now you see even more than you did before. You finally know what you are, but you're still having trouble accepting it. Give in to it. If you don't, you're just going to end up eating a bullet from your own weapon. I've seen it before and I see the way you've been eyeing your gun. Is that what you really want?"

Officer Hawley pulled his gun once more and aimed it directly between Frank's eyes as he cocked back the safety, then replied, "What I want is to put a bullet between your eyes and then into my own brain so that this will all end."

"Except that your will to survive is stronger," Frank responded with a cruel smile. "I helped you once before and I can help you this time, if you'll just trust me. I trust you not to shoot me."

"Fine," the cop answered after a minute as he glared at the man before him while he put the safety back on. "We'll both leave and disappear, but once we're gone, I never want to see you again."

Shepard nodded, then all of a sudden grabbed the gun from his hand and stepped away from him as he replied, "I can live with that, but I'm afraid that you're going to have to find your own way out, if you survive that is."

Hawley looked at him in confusion, then turned to face a small group of thugs as they entered the large room all carrying weapons of their own and the officer cried out angrily, "What the hell is this? I thought we were in this together?"

"We were once, but you're too weak," Frank responded. "I can't risk you turning on me again. My friends here, work for a man named Malcolm Sweet and they happened to be in the neighborhood conducting some other business venture. I believe you know the man, used to do a few favors for him. Then, you skipped out on him. It's a real shame, but he wants to see you and they're here to take you back to him. I can only hope that he's not too angry with you for betraying him like that."

"Please, don't do this!" Tom begged as two of the men grabbed his arms and began to pull him away as he quickly turned to look over at one of them whom he helped work a few side jobs separate from that of the man in charge. "Victor, you and I were friends once, remember? If you take me back to your uncle, he'll kill me."

Victor shook his head and answered, "Actually, it's going to be me that's going to kill you. Friends don't skip out on friends."

Hawley cried again, "Please Frank! I helped keep you out of prison. I brought you the kid!"

"And for that I'm grateful," the monster stated to himself as he picked up the chair and the food he brought back with him while they disappeared, then carried it and his food into the smaller room where Jack still lay and took a seat as he began to eat while he looked down at his former foster son in morbid fascination, simply watching his body shiver from the fever and cold like it was something he was watching on television. "Very grateful."

Meanwhile…

"So Bobby wants us to see if we can't find out where this bastard's oldest kid is," Angel spoke up as he looked over at his older brother while he continued searching Frank's home.

Jeremiah stopped what he was doing as he glared at a picture of the man, his wife, and his five kids that appeared to make them look like they were a perfectly normal family, then Angel came over to see what had him so immersed as he said again, "It'd be a nice picture we both didn't know it was bullshit."

The middle son nodded, then set it down and looked back at Angel as he asked, "What did you say Bobby wanted?"

"He wants us to see if we can't figure out where Shepard's oldest kid is," the youngest responded as he picked up some of the discarded mail he found lying out on the coffee table nearby. "He has a hunch that he'll be the key to finding Frank. Even if he doesn't know as much as we think he does, or he refuses to cooperate with us, we might at least be able to use him as a bargaining chip to get Jack back."

"We can't use the man's kid against him, man," Jeremiah answered worryingly, not really liking their options. "It's one thing to go after a couple of psychopaths and beat the hell out of them, but we can't risk his kid getting hurt, especially if he is innocent."

Angel glared at him and replied angrily, "And what about Jack? As far as I'm concerned, he's the only kid in this who's innocent in this whole mess, Jerry. I agree with Bobby, Frank's son knows more about what his father's doing."

Jeremiah shook his head in frustration, but knew his brother was right, so he nodded and responded, "Okay, but we have no idea where he is."

"Maybe there's something in his room that can help us figure out where he might have gone to hide," Angel stated again as he moved down the hallway and walked inside the room he knew belonged to their criminal's oldest son, having been there before the night he and Bobby had first found Jack. "Let me know if you find something."

"He's an eighteen year old kid," Jeremiah answered in frustration. "And it's Friday night. He could be anywhere."


	23. Chapter 23

Bleeding Out

Chapter Twenty-Three

After searching Kevin Shepard's room for several minutes and not finding anything, Angel became frustrated as he threw a baseball which the young man only two years younger than he was had on display across the room, putting a pretty large dent into the wall where it struck, while Jeremiah stepped out of the closet just then holding a laptop in his hands as he looked at his brother and the mark he made in the wall, then stated quickly, "You really need to learn better patience, brother, as much as Bobby needs to learn how to be less aggressive."

Angel glared at him as he responded, "And you need to shut up. What'd you find?"

"I found the kid's laptop, though it's a little strange that he keeps it hidden inside his closet beneath his clothes," Jeremiah answered as he set the machine down on the bed and turned it on, a picture of a nearly naked girl who appeared to be his girlfriend, at least that was what the brothers thought until they opened a file and found pictures of multiple women, all wearing barely anything at all. "It looks like this guy's a player. Either that, or he's into kinky porn."

"I'd be interested to see more, but right now these aren't much help to us," the younger man replied as he quickly closed the file. "Search his emails. Maybe there's something there that could help."

Jeremiah was about to do so until he noticed another file marked 'Jack' and quickly clicked it open, revealing photos of Kevin and his friends all laughing while tormenting the newest member of their family in various ways through pranks and forms of beatings and then having pictures of his humiliation taken. The worst one was of Jack leaning over a toilet wearing nothing, but his boxers after it was obvious he had spent some time throwing up, looking completely defeated and exhausted as his head laid heavily against his arm draped over the toilet bowl with his dark and swollen eyes tightly closed. Both of the brothers' eyes grew cold, as they knew exactly the reason why this had happened, even if the punk who took this picture didn't. It made them no longer care about what happened to Kevin in that moment if they ever found him.

The middle brother continued clicking through the pictures as he spoke up again saying coldly, "We're taking his computer and destroying it as soon as we finish going through it. This kid isn't going to have his fun little mementos to enjoy any longer."

Angel shook his head angrily and then responded, "Get out of these. I don't want to see any more. What's in his emails?"

"It looks like a bunch of emails back and forth between him and his friends, many of which appear to have those photos attached to them," Jeremiah answered as he began to skim through them as quickly as he could until one in particular caught his eye and opened it up. "This one might be helpful."

"What is it?" his brother asked. "So his friend sent him some pictures of them throwing a few parties. So what?"

Jeremiah glared at him, then turned back as he flipped through several of the pictures attached to this one email and replied, "There's quite a few of these, of his friends squatting and throwing parties in these vacant houses that all appear to be in the same community and one of the emails shows one condo with a message, 'Stay here for tonight. You'll be fine 'til morning.' The date stamp was from earlier today. What do you want to bet that this is where Kevin and maybe even his father his hiding out for the night?"

Angel smiled as he responded, "Either way, we might have just found our way to find Jack. Any chance you know where this place might be?"

"I can find out," he answered as he began to search the internet, then quickly jotted down the location on the back of a photo hanging up on his wall. "Got it. Let's get out of here. And call Bobby to let him know where we're heading."

"I'm already on it," Angel replied as he pulled out his phone and began to dial their older brother's number.

Inside the condo where Kevin was hiding…

The doorbell rang and Frank Shepard's oldest son opened the door to pay the delivery driver for the three large pizzas he had ordered for the party he was getting ready to throw that night as a farewell to his friends. It wasn't that the eighteen year old wanted to leave them all behind, but he hated Detroit and was ready for a change of scene, or at least that was what he had told his father. What the man didn't realize was that his son had also gotten himself into a bit of trouble. He had managed to get himself addicted to gambling and had built up quite a large debt for himself, which he in no way could afford to pay back to the men he had borrowed the money from. He loved his father, but the truth was he only wanted to leave with him in order to get away free and clear with his life.

Within twenty minutes, over a dozen of his friends had arrived, the beer that had been brought was well into being drunk by everyone, and the music was blaring. Because there weren't neighbors to complain, these empty condos were easy for kids to break into and for them to have their parties. Only once had a group of them been caught back when the first few houses had been put up, but security had gotten lax and the police no longer seemed to care, as they were busy taking care of far more important matters than to worry about kids having fun.

It was beginning to get late when a few of Kevin's drunken friends came up behind him as one of them said, "This sure is a kick ass party, Kev. We're gonna miss ya around here. Where are you going again?"

Kevin took a swig of his beer and then responded, "Not sure yet. My dad and I are going to travel a bit first I think and then once I find someplace I like, I'll stay put for awhile. It's something I've got to do."

"It's a shame you didn't think to bring the kid with you tonight," another of them stated cruelly. "We could have had some real fun with the little freak."

"Yeah, I wish I could have, but he got himself grounded again," the young gambler lied. "I don't even know what he did to deserve it this time. The sad thing is that Dad's decided to give him back over to social services tomorrow. He's just too much trouble, but at least we had fun while it lasted and plenty of pictures."

It was then that the doorbell rang again, as one of the teenagers called out, "Yo Kevin, who else is supposed to be here? I thought everyone you invited has already arrived?"

Kevin went to the door and as soon as he opened it, he discovered the last people he expected to see standing there until they barged their way in, grabbed Kevin by the front of his shirt as the two uninvited guests raised their weapons and then shouted out, "Get out now! We have a little business to conduct here. Trust me, you don't want to test us."

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Kevin asked angrily as he glared at the two Black men he remembered from the hospital while his friends all scrambled out of the home like they were ordered to. "How did you…?"

"Never mind all that, kid," Jeremiah answered coolly. "We want to know where your father is."

Angel slammed the door once the kids were all gone, then stepped forward as he added, "Or more importantly, where Jack is. If that monster has so much as laid a hand on him…"

Kevin angrily retorted, "My dad's not a monster. What's happened to Jack is his own fault. He seduced my father!"

"So, you do know what he's done?" Angel growled, wanting to pummel the kid into the ground for believing the foul lie. "We thought you might. Start talking or we'll do this another way."

"Go to hell!" Kevin replied coldly. "I won't help you get my father killed."


	24. Chapter 24

Bleeding Out

Chapter Twenty-Four

Inside the condemned building…

Frank finished his dinner like it was a normal Friday night and nothing was out of the ordinary, then he stood up from his seat and began to stretch out until he heard movement behind him as he looked down toward the mattress on the floor, discovering that Jack was struggling to awaken despite the torment that he had inflicted on him.

"Well I'll be damned!" Frank stated in surprise as he knelt down over his captive, then reached out to trace the lining of his face with his finger, feeling that his temperature was still continuing to rise. "And I thought that you were finally checked out, kid. You always did have a way of surprising me. I should have known better. Come on, wake up for me. I want to see those frightened baby blues of yours one last time before…"

"What now?" Frank snarled upon being interrupted by the sound of a bunch of people laughing and shouting as they walked into the building out in the main area, then he quickly stood and walked to the door, checked the gun he had taken from off of Officer Hawley earlier to make sure that it was working, and finally exited the room as he raised his weapon toward the strangers, who were just as surprised to see him there as well. "Who the hell are you and what are you doing here? If you're looking for a place to crash to get high, this place isn't it."

Most of the punks appearing to be gang members also raised their own weapons upon seeing the threat as one of them called back, "We were under the impression that this place was vacant, brother. Who invited you here? It sure as hell wasn't us."

Frank glared at them as he kept his gun high and answered, "Look, I really don't want any trouble, but I had no place to go and my son is really sick. If you don't mind, I'm hoping we can see past this… misunderstanding right here, and that you'll allow me and my kid in the other room to stay for the night. You're free to do what you like, have a party, get drunk or high, or whatever, but… Can you act as though I'm not even here?"

"I'm afraid we're not feeling very charitable tonight, friend," the man who appeared to be these punks' leader replied as he and two others from the group with their guns prepped to fire stepped forward threateningly. "I suggest you take your kid and get out now, or my boys here will shoot you both and then bury your bodies so deep that you'll never be found. What do you have to say now, brother?"

Meanwhile…

Once they had gotten the location where Frank Shepard was out of his son, despite the kid's lack of cooperation, Angel immediately called Bobby again and told them to book it to the old warehouse, knowing that he and Jeremiah were further away from where their brother and Green currently were.

"We're almost there," Bobby stated over the phone, then quickly hung up on his brother as he looked over at their cop friend driving the car. "Can't this bucket of bolts move any faster, Green?"

The cop glared at the man sitting beside him and responded, "If you want to risk getting killed in this weather, then please, feel free to take over driving. I'm trying to get us to this place in one piece. I can barely see the roads as it is."

"Fine, just get us there," the oldest Mercer brother answered in frustration. "Look, I know that we're not making your job easy, Green. You're going against your book of rules and all, but for what it's worth, I'm grateful."

"Your gratitude isn't why I'm doing this, Bobby," he replied as he quickly glanced over at him, then turned back to the road. "Tell me again what your brothers did to Shepard's son to get him to talk?"

Bobby shook his head and responded, "Don't worry, he's fine. It's not like they shot him or anything. If you ask me, that son of a bitch is getting off lucky."

Green kept his eyes ahead, but noticed that Bobby's knees were bouncing up and down in anticipation, then he answered, "Yeah, we're almost there. I need you to try to stay calm once we get in there, Bobby. I know how you like to fly off the handle. You're the Michigan Mauler for a reason, but you can't kill this man, even if he makes you mad enough to do it."

"That motherfucker has tortured and kidnapped my little brother," Bobby snarled angrily as he checked his guns once more. "I'm beyond mad and I'll do whatever I have to do to make sure Jack is safe. I won't kill him outright, but I sure as hell won't hesitate either."

"I was afraid you'd say that," the cop said as they finally pulled up outside of the condemned building and stepped out of the car.

Bobby started walking toward it as he asked, "What the hell is this place?"

Green followed after his friend as he replied, "I have no idea, but it looks like a great place to hide out, or for gang bangers and junkies to have their parties, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, unfortunately I do," the Mercer responded as he raised one of his guns high and finally walked inside, as Green followed suit, then stopped moving upon hearing multiple heated voices coming from the main room just down the hall from where they stood. "Do you hear that?"

"Is that… If Frank and Hawley are in here Bobby, then they're not alone," the cop answered nervously as he looked at the man there with him. "We can't just go in now. We're going to be outnumbered and get ourselves killed."

Bobby seemed to be ignoring him as he moved forward again and stopped just outside the door as he strained to listen to the conversation, raising his gun up higher, then quickly whispered, "Do you have any better ideas? If we don't get in there, Jack will end up getting killed by these freaks once they finish off the bastards who actually deserves it. I can't let that happen, Green. I'm sorry!"

All of a sudden, Bobby pulled opened the door and rushed inside as Green tried to stop him by calling out, "Bobby wait… Damn it!"

"Hey, hey, hey, everybody stay back!" Bobby shouted as he fired off a single shot in the air to get everyone's attention, then kept his gun aimed between as many of the thugs before him as he could while he glared at them angrily. "I need everyone to remain calm and listen to what I've got to say."

"Who are you now?" the leader of the thugs asked as he turned and glared at the second intruder. "Are you with him?"

When the guy pointed back toward Frank, Bobby scoffed, "Hell no, I ain't with him. That motherfucker took my kid brother out from under me and my brothers and we're here to get him back."

Frank spoke up from behind the men as he asked smugly, "Who's we, Mercer? I don't see anyone else in here with you?"

"He's not completely alone," Green replied as he also stepped into the room with his gun raised, feeling less cocky and a bit more nervous than his friend clearly did. "I'm with the police and if you don't want to end up in jail, I suggest you leave right now. You all heard what my friend said. We're here for the kid and as soon as we find him, we'll be out of your hair."

"We haven't seen no kid, but even if he is here, I'm afraid that we're not letting him, nor any of you out of here alive," the leader responded coldly. "We may be standing in the middle of a standoff, but there's a whole lot more of us, than there are of you. Open fire boys!"

The room suddenly erupted in gunfire as both Bobby and Green took cover behind a couple of cement pillars nearby, as Frank took cover behind one as well at the opposite end of the room, then Green shouted over at Bobby saying angrily, "What the hell were you thinking? You could have gotten yourself killed, or more importantly, you could have gotten me killed and I would have really been pissed!"

Bobby fired a few shots off, one of which managed to kill one of the thugs, then saw Frank take down another from his own position, and he turned back to the cop with him as he shouted back, "I wasn't thinking, about anything other than finding Jack! Just stay down, we've got this!"

"You bet your ass we do!" Angel called out as he and Jeremiah both burst into the room from a different entrance firing off a few more rounds, killing two more men trying to kill their brother."

"If we make it through this, Mom's going to kill us herself when she finds out that we got into a gunfight!" Jeremiah cried. "What are we doing?"

Bobby suddenly took a bullet through his arm as he ran to a different position in order to move closer to the bastard he had come to kill and grabbed it out of reflex, then fired off another shot to kill someone trying to sneak up on Angel, which was when he noticed that he was on his last clip and knew that his brothers didn't have much left either. They were in trouble as their shots weren't making a big enough impact against the men, but as he was about to call out again to his brothers, that was when sirens could be heard from down the street.

Green shouted, "I made a quick call for back up the second you rushed in here to try to be a hero! Somebody had to save our skins!"

One of the thugs suddenly cried out, "It's the cops! We got to git out of here!"

"Scatter!" the leader answered as he and the rest of the thugs began to rush out like the place was on fire while taking a few extra shots, managing to strike Angel in the arm as well, though the bullet went wide, only grazing him.

"Angel, you alright?" Bobby asked worryingly as he started to rush toward him once they were clear.

Angel quickly replied, "I'm good. It's just a scratch. Where's Shepard?"

Bobby scanned the room and when he didn't see the man anywhere in sight, worried that he had skipped out along with the thugs, the oldest brother responded angrily, "Where the hell is that motherfuc…?"

"Jack!" he cried out when all of a sudden a shot sounded from another room as he, Angel, and Jeremiah rushed to where it came from.

As they ran inside, they found Frank standing over Jack, who was terrified as he held a gun in his trembling hands pointing it up at his assailant, while the monster was about to shoot him until Angel charged into him with the full force of his body and began to beat him over and over with his fists.

Jack didn't realize he was finally safe as he slowly raised his gun toward his own head and was about to fire until Bobby swiftly ran to him and grabbed the gun from his hands, then threw it to Jeremiah as he pulled Jack into his arms when he broke down, screaming out wildly as he struggled to fight against what he couldn't see.

"Easy, easy, I've you, Jackie," Bobby spoke fearfully as he struggled against the boy trying to break free from his firm hold until he mercifully passed out from the strain. "Jerry, call for an ambulance. Hurry! He's on fire, but he's freezing too."

"Was he shot?" Angel asked as he looked over at his brothers fearfully when he finally quit beating the man once he was out cold and bleeding. "Is he…?"

Bobby quickly scanned their youngest brother and saw that he was bleeding badly from the multiple gashes and from what he could tell were whip marks from a belt across his back and chest, then shook his head worryingly as he answered, "No… no, there's no bullet hole. He wasn't hit."

Jeremiah got off the phone as he rushed to Bobby's side to help him with Jack, then Angel looked the monster beneath him over and when he found a gunshot wound deep in his stomach, he replied smugly, "Looks like it was Jack who got the shot off first before this motherfucker could shoot him."

"Help's comin'," Jeremiah responded worryingly as he reached out to take one of his hands. "The gun's a derringer, single shot. Hang in there, kiddo."

"Is everyone…?" Green started to ask as he rushed into the room with his gun out, then stared down at the scene before him. "We got most of the… gang… My God."


	25. Chapter 25

Bleeding Out

Chapter Twenty-Five

The Mercer brothers were once again sitting nervously inside the hospital's waiting room, as Bobby hung his head down between his hands while trying to remain calm, about twenty minutes after the ambulance arrived with their youngest brother. The older man had gone with the paramedics, refusing to leave Jack's side in case he woke up at all, and once they left the warehouse, Jeremiah pulled out his phone again to call their mother. He didn't explain any detail about the fight at the time, but they all knew that they would need to when she arrived. Because she was out late meeting with Rachel Davis' supervisor about bringing the vile woman up on charges for her mistreatment of the poor child Evelyn had easily come to love and care for, it took the kind caregiver longer to get down to the hospital than it would have if she were at home. When she finally made it and saw the looks on her other children's faces, she knew that the situation was grave.

Bobby refused to look at her out of shame while he remained seated, while Jeremiah and Angel both walked over to hug her as Jeremiah spoke first saying worryingly, "It was bad, Mom, but we didn't have a choice."

Evelyn looked between each of her boys and felt her middle son's hands trembling within her own, then she turned to him first as she replied sadly, "It's all right, but I really only care more about my boys right now. How are you really? Are any of you hurt? And don't you lie to me."

"A bullet grazed my arm, but I promise you it's only a graze," Angel answered, knowing that he couldn't hide it from her. "Bobby's the one who actually got shot."

"Really Angel?" Bobby called out angrily as he finally stood up while glaring at his brother. "I swear to God if we weren't in the frickin' hospital…"

Evelyn cut him off as she moved to stand before her oldest and responded firmly, "That's enough, Bobby. Let me see."

Bobby pulled down his jacket from over his arm to do as she asked, then he replied quickly, "It's fine, Ma. Nothing, but a through and through. I've had worse scrapes playing hockey."

"No you haven't," she answered in frustration as she motioned for one of the nurses at the receptionist desk nearby to come over to help her boy. "I know about all of your injuries you've sustained, not to mention the ones you've brought on the other players."

"Please see to it that my son gets taken care of," Evelyn stated quickly as another nurse joined her colleague to have him brought in to see a doctor despite his protests, then turned back to her other children to get the rest of the story. "How bad is Jack? I know he's in surgery, but… What exactly did that monster do to him?"

Jeremiah looked over at Angel, then turned back to their mother as he responded sadly, "We're not exactly sure all he did, but he definitely hurt him in the same way that he had before, mole… molested him I mean. It looks like he beat him pretty badly with his belt too. It's real bad, Mom."

Angel nodded, then added, "What's worse though, is that Jackie somehow got his hands on a gun and had to fire on Shepard to try to defend himself, took a bullet in his stomach, but it didn't kill him, only knocked him back long enough for us to get in that room and rush him before the son of a bitch could kill him. The kid didn't know us, couldn't see more than a threat. If one of us had found him first, he would have shot us, not realizing we weren't there to hurt him. He was real sick and so freaked out…"

"Oh dear God," Evelyn cried fearfully as she started to collapse until her boys grabbed hold of her and led her over to the seats, then looked at each other as they both decided without having to say a word that they wouldn't share with their mom about how he had tried to kill himself again or about the photos on Shepard's son's laptop. "How could you let this happen, to a child?"

"God certainly isn't all powerful, if he even exists at all," Angel replied coldly, knowing that she was still speaking to this so called heavenly being and not them. "If he does, then he sucks at his job."

Jeremiah sat down beside her, Angel on her other side, as she placed her hands over her mouth and cried softly, then Jeremiah spoke up again after giving her some time to grieve in silence, saying, "That bastard ain't dead yet, but he knows what happens when he messes with a Mercer. If he survives…"

Bobby came back out with the wound in his arm wrapped in bandages as he interrupted, "There's no way in hell that he's getting out of here alive. Jack's going to survive this and when he does, he'll never feel safe so long as that motherfucker's still out there."

"If he survives, he'll got to prison, Bobby," Green answered as he walked into the room and stood before them. "For the crimes he's committed, there's no way he'll ever see the light if day again."

"That isn't good enough for a son of a bitch like him!" Bobby shouted angrily. "He deserves to die! You should have killed him Angel."

Evelyn moved to stand before her oldest son as she took his face in her hands and looked into his eyes, then responded worryingly, "It's obvious that you boys didn't have a choice to get into the fight you ended up in tonight. You were protecting your brother and for that, I am grateful and proud of you for, but I never ever want to hear that any of you killed someone out of revenge, no matter how badly you want to. I know how angry you are Bobby, believe me because I am angry too. I am pissed off, but I don't want to see any of you get punished or hurt trying to ease that anger, which you will never be able to do. All that we can do right now, is be here for Jackie and be here for each other. We will pray that God will see fit to make this right and see that justice is done the right way. Do you hear me, sweetheart?"

Tears formed in his eyes as he nodded and replied, "Yeah Ma, I hear you."

"Forgive the interruption, but are you the ones here for the fourteen year old boy brought in an hour ago?" a doctor asked when she walked into the room as the Mercers all stood quickly and looked at the woman in shock upon seeing blood covering her clothes.

"Ye… yes, Jack is… he's my son," Evelyn answered fearfully as she finally looked into the woman's eyes. "Please, how is he? He isn't…"

The female doctor shook her head and responded, "No, but his condition is quite severe. The paramedics informed us that when they ran their tests in the ambulance on their way here, that his fever was burning nearly 106 and from the shape his body is in, it's no surprise. His fever is dangerously high, but his body was freezing to the point of hypothermia due to the coldness of wherever he was being held. I assure you we're doing all we can to bring his fever down and his body temperature back up."

Jeremiah spoke up as he asked, "And what about his wounds? The gashes, the lacerations, the bruising…?"

"They certainly aren't helping him any," she replied more curtly than she intended to be. "I'm sorry, it's just that I hate monsters who can do something so cruel to a young kid like your boy. It looks like the lacerations were mostly caused by something solid and sharp, most likely a belt buckle, the rest by the strap itself. They're badly infected and he lost a lot of blood, which is why we are giving him a transfusion as we speak. He had multiple bruises across his entire body, some of them from earlier beatings, which I imagine you already know about, a few minor bone fractures and busted ribs, but worst of all…"

"Is that he has been sexually abused," Evelyn answered coldly for the woman, who simply nodded to confirm her statement.

The woman continued sadly, "I'm afraid that his abuse appears to have gone on for a long time. I noticed the slash marks on his wrists… I spoke to one of his doctors from his previous hospital stay, who explained that you were all there with him and knew of his cutting and at least two suicide attempts. Truthfully, I'm amazed that this poor child has been able to keep fighting for so long, after all he's been through."

Bobby looked over at his mother as he said proudly, "He's a hell of a lot stronger than he knows."

"I don't doubt that," the doctor responded. "We're doing everything we can for him. He's still in surgery and will be for at least another hour, but as soon as we move him into a room, you'll be free to see him and stay with him for as long as you wish to. He isn't out of the woods yet and will have a long recovery ahead of him if he does survive. He's really going to need you."

"Thank you so much," Evelyn stated as the nurse nodded again, then she watched as the woman walked away and turned back to her boys. "I have faith that Jackie will be alright, so long as we do everything possible to prove to him that we are his family now, and we will."


	26. Chapter 26

Bleeding Out

Chapter Twenty-Six

Just as the doctor had said and like the Mercers already knew, Jack's recovery was very slow. Jack was in a bad way, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. When he finally awoke four days after his brothers had found him and saved him, he avoided eye contact with everyone and refused to speak. Evelyn tried a few times to gently trace her fingers along his face, run them through his hair, or take his hand for comfort, but every time she would, he would flinch and pull away from her and curl into himself, then would sometimes roll over and rub his fingers over the scars on his wrists while he stared angrily them.

The doctors and nurses had injected IVs into both of his arms, one of which was medication for his pain from his physical wounds, another being a sedative to keep him calm as he had freaked out more than once after waking up, not being able to understand that he was no longer being held prisoner by his tormentor, and finally a third IV had been injected into his body in order to give him the nutrition he needed as he was refusing to eat or drink anything given to him.

Seeing someone so frail and frightened was new to the brothers. Even though each of them had come from their own difficult backgrounds, they were never so broken and there was nothing any of them felt like they could do, but watch as their youngest withered away. It was difficult, but neither Evelyn nor her sons gave up in trying to break through to him.

One night, Bobby, Angel, and Jeremiah all walked into Jack's room after getting a few hours of sleep to relieve their mother who had stayed by their younger brother's side most of the day and upon seeing them come in, she looked between them as she asked, "All three of you have come to stay through the night? That's wonderful. I'm sure Jackie appreciates all of you being here for him."

Bobby nodded and helped her up from the chair she had been sitting in for a long time, then he responded, "We know, Ma. That's why we're all here for him. Would you like one of us to drive you home tonight? You look exhausted."

"No sweetheart, I'm fine," their mother replied as she patted his cheek. "I am tired, but I would like each of you to stay with Jack. He needs you more than I do right now."

"I don't think he even knows we're here," Angel answered until Bobby suddenly smacked him on the back of his head. "Ow! What? He knows someone's here with him, but he only thinks of us as a threat like everyone else. He doesn't really know we're his family."

Jeremiah responded, "Maybe not now, but he will come back to us in time."

Evelyn nodded in agreement as she replied, "That's right, Jackie's been through hell and it's our job to see that he finds he way back, so I do not want any negativity from either of you while you're here with him."

"Mom, is something wrong?" Jeremiah asked worryingly upon seeing a frown cross her face, then she looked over at Bobby as she took her oldest's arm and motioned for each of her boys to follow her out into the hallway so she could speak to them freely.

"Earlier this evening, one of the doctors informed me that Frank Shepard has been moving around the hospital a bit more now that he's recovering from his wound," she answered nervously. "Apparently, his lawyer made it so that his client could be free to roam around wherever he wants until his trial comes up, then made sure that Officer Green was suspended because of the rules he broke helping you boys find Jackie. And seeing that he's not yet able to leave the hospital… I really feel better if you three boys are all here tonight. If that man tries to hurt him again, I don't even want to think about what it might do to him. Jack's already so fragile."

Bobby squeezed his hands into fists trying to suppress his anger, then he looked at their mother and responded firmly, "Don't worry. We'll make sure that Jack is always protected and that Frank can't come anywhere near him, ever."

She smiled and replied, "I know. Just promise me that you won't hurt that monster because the last thing I want is to see either of you in prison. Now, I'm going home. Call me if anything changes."

"Of course, Mom," Angel answered as the three of them watched her when she walked away, then Angel looked over at Jeremiah and noticed the backpack he wore over his shoulder. "I take it you brought it?"

"Yeah, I brought it," Jerry responded as he pulled a laptop out of the bag and carried inside the room again, then the three of them sat down at the end of the bed where their brother was sleeping and began to sift through the photos of Jack being tormented by Kevin on the screen, as Bobby had yet to see them. "At first I wanted to destroy this thing, but then I realized that we could hand it over to the police so that they can bring this kid and his friends all up on charges for torturing Jack."

Bobby continued looking through them as he replied, "No. There's no way we're leaving these photos in the hands of the police or with anyone to see them. Jack's been through enough without this humiliation hanging over him. We're destroying it."

Angel nodded in agreement, then Jeremiah looked over at Jack as he asked, "Alright, but what about Kevin and his friends? They're partly responsible for this too. I don't doubt that Frank will pay. He's going to be on trial for… well for what's he's done and that cop who kidnapped him, it turns out that his body was found on the streets a few miles from the warehouse where we found Frank hiding out. Green says he was killed by some gang bangers, but he wasn't sure the reason he was killed yet."

"It doesn't matter, so long as he's dead," Angel answered coldly. "I say good riddance."

"You two scared the shit out of Kevin that night to get him to talk," Bobby said coldly as he finally came to the photo of Jack leaning over the toilet, then he picked up a glass of water sitting on the windowsill behind him and poured the water over the computer to fry the circuits and destroy all of its content. "I believe he's under the impression that we'll kill him if he ever tried to hurt Jack again. I'll have a visit with him too, to reinforce our stand, but these pictures are history."

Ten months later…

Evelyn was driving home from their last day in court after Frank Shepard's trial as she looked over into the passenger's seat at the young man sitting beside her and noticed that he seemed defeated, then she spoke up asking, "Jackie, are you feeling okay, sweetheart?"

Jack simply nodded as he stared out the window until he finally responded quietly, "I didn't believe you and your sons. I thought he was going to get off and that he'd kill me. Now he's in prison so why can't I shake this? I hate feeling so weak."

"You are not weak," the kind woman replied firmly as she pulled over to the side of the road and tried to get him to turn to look at her by gently taking his face in her hands. "Hey, look at me. You aren't weak, Jackie. And I promise you that you are safe. That man will never be able to hurt you again. You've got me and three older brothers now to protect you."

"I'm not a part of your family," he answered defiantly. "I just live with you because you feel sorry for me."

Evelyn shook her head and responded firmly, "If that was true, then I wouldn't have adopted you. I'm guessing no one's ever explained to you what that means, to be adopted?"

Jack replied, "Why would they? Everyone told me that I was beyond help. They were right."

"No they weren't," she answered as she leaned forward and put her forehead up against his, then pulled him into a hug. "They weren't right about any of the things they told you. My boys and I brought you into our family because we saw a special and bright young man who deserved to see that he could be loved no matter how far gone he believed he was. You are a Mercer now. No longer just Jack, but Jack Mercer. You are a part of a family, who loves you very much and will always be here to protect you."

When they finally arrived at home, Bobby, Angel, and Jeremiah suddenly came over to him the moment he stepped into their house, then pulled him further inside to show him a bunch of decorations and a cake they had put together for him to celebrate as they all shouted, "Congratulations!"

Then Bobby quickly added, "You did it Jackie-O, you won! That bastard's finally going away for life because you stood up to him and you're one of us now. I knew that this day would come."

"I only did it because you were all there to help me," Jack responded nervously as tears came to his eyes and for the first time realized that he was crying because he was happy, until he quickly wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve, then pulled it down tightly again to make sure that his wrist was still covered.

"No, you did that yourself," Jeremiah replied and then handed him a small box wrapped in newspaper. "I was never good at gift wrapping."

Jack looked at him in confusion as he asked, "This is for me? I mean, what is all this for?"

Evelyn put her hand on his shoulder as she stepped up behind him and answered, "This is what we do whenever a new member of our family officially becomes a Mercer. We throw a little party. Even though it was official a few months ago, we knew you weren't ready for this, not then, but you are now I think."

"Thank you," he responded as he slowly unwrapped the box and found three guitar picks inside. "I don't… I don't play guitar. I don't have one."

"Actually, you do now," Evelyn replied as she picked up a large instrument case from the side of the couch and set it down so that she could open it up to reveal a brand new guitar. "We all have noticed you singing quietly to yourself whenever you think you're alone and thought that you might enjoy learning to play the guitar to help you to develop that talent of yours. We all pitched in."

Angel quickly picked up another box and opened it up as he added, "Jerry and me also bought you a new pair of skates. It's a Mercer tradition to play hockey and cream all of the other punks trying to skate against us. As a Mercer, it's your duty to join us."

Jack looked between his brothers as he answered, "So long as you teach me and I've always been a fast learner."

Later that night…

"Jackie?" Bobby called out and then found Jack sitting on the roof outside of his window smoking a cigarette despite the cold and when he noticed the older man, he quickly put it out, but it was too late as Bobby asked, "So, how long have you been smoking?"

"I… not long," he nervously responded, feeling ashamed that he had allowed his brother to see his weakness. "It started when I first moved in with the foster family I was with before Frank. The father was an abusive drunk; physically I mean. He knew how to make me feel like shit. He beat me a lot and so one night I stole a pack of his cigarettes and smoked them in order to calm my nerves. It helped, a little, and I suppose I just kept doing it."

Bobby asked again, "Okay, I get that, but why are you smoking now? Are you worried about something?"

Jack looked at him for the first time as he admitted, "I suppose I always worry that this is all a dream and that I'll wake up still in Frank's care, or any of the other homes I lived at."

"There's no need for you to ever worry about that, Cracker Jack," Bobby replied as he pulled the kid into a hug. "You're stuck with us, whether you like it or not. And don't worry, I won't tell Ma. Just try not to smoke in front of her, or she'll kick your ass."

"Thanks," he answered. "We should probably get back inside, huh?"

His brother nodded as he followed him inside, then quickly stopped again, grabbed his brother's sleeve to hold him back a moment, and handed him another small box as he said, "I almost forgot. I have something else for you. It might help a little. I'm not really sure."

Jack took the gift and unwrapped it to open the box and when he did, he found a pair of leather wrist cuffs inside, carefully picked one up, and stared at it as Bobby continued, "I thought you might like something to help you hide the scars on your wrists instead of having to constantly pull your sleeves down to cover them. They are nothing to be ashamed of."

"Thank you, Bobby," the younger man responded as he looked over at his brother. "For these, and for saving me from myself, both times."

"You remember that night in the warehouse?" Bobby asked in surprise as he looked over at him.

Jack replied sadly, "Most of it. They're blurry, but the memories have come back little by little, in my dreams mostly. I remember what Frank and Officer Hawley did to me. I remember begging him to help me until he… And I remember shooting that son of a bitch. I've never been so scared. I don't remember seeing you, or Angel, or Jerry, but I do remember feeling someone grab me as the gun was taken away from me when I tried to kill myself again. Frank or Hawley never would have saved me, but you would have and you did, didn't you?"

Bobby nodded and answered, "Yeah, we all did. Come on, let's get downstairs before Ma comes up to see why we've disappeared from the party. I'm glad you're a part of our family, Jackie. And I'm glad you're my brother."

Moments after Jack's death…

After shooting the hired killer inside the van that nearly ran him over, Bobby breathed out heavily as more tears fell from his eyes down his face, then slowly started to walk back over to his brothers again until he saw the son of a bitch who first shot his kid brother, and walked to stand over his body instead as he suddenly began to shoot him again and again despite him already being dead, until his gun clicked indicating his weapon was empty. Neither Angel, Jeremiah, nor Sofi turned their heads to look at him as he did this, as they were too saddened and stunned by the attack on their home that stole the youngest Mercer from them.

Finally, the oldest brother looked over at the remainder of his family, including the woman he constantly teased by calling her La Vida Loca, and slowly walked back over to them, knelt down in the snow beside his little brother and gently moved his trembling hand along his slack, cold face, then carefully lifted his body into his arms so that he could carry him back inside their mother's home.

"There's no way in hell that I'm letting them take Jackie away in some body bag along with the motherfuckers who killed him," Bobby said angrily as his brothers and Sofi finally got up from the bloodied snow and followed after him.

"Why did it have to be Jack?" Angel asked dejectedly as the oldest laid Jack down across the couch, then sat down on the floor beside him as he continued to look over his body until he gently picked up the bloody rosary still hanging around his neck and held it in his hand, staring at it as if in a trance. "He tried to warn us we were gonna get killed and I mocked him by saying it was only going to be him. I never thought I'd be right. Damn it, he didn't deserve to die!"

Sofi stated nervously, "This wasn't your fault, Angel."

Angel glared at her as he shouted, "The hell it ain't! Bobby and me were the ones that dragged him into this fight. He tried to get us to stop!"

"And I was the one who started all of this in the first place," Bobby responded coldly as he finally stood up upon hearing the sirens of the police and ambulance in the distance. "If anyone's to blame, it's me. I promised Ma I would never kill someone out of revenge and because I broke that promise, because I convinced you all to join me, Jack's dead!"

Jeremiah shook his head and replied, "We're all to blame, but blaming ourselves isn't helping any. Right now, all we can do is grieve. Jack wouldn't want us to blame ourselves or each other."

In the graveyard…

Bobby's image of Jack spoke up again saying, "I don't blame you for getting killed. I did go right along with you all if I recall."

"We didn't give you much choice in the matter," Bobby answered coolly.

"All I care about is that I wasn't alone when I died," Jack continued somberly as he took another drag of the cigarette in his mouth, then blew out the smoke. "That, and you, Jerry, Angel, and Ma all saved me seven years ago when I needed you the most. I was more of a mess than all of you, but you loved me anyway. That's what I remember and if I'm just a figment of your imagination or your conscience talking, then it's obviously what you remember too. Don't forget about all you did for me and be here for Jerry and Angel like you were there for me. Quit being such a drunken dick and get off your ass before you kill yourself by freezing to death out here in this frickin' cold."

Bobby stood up finally and smiled at his brother as he responded, "I really miss you, you little fairy."

It was then that Angel and Jeremiah walked over as Angel asked, "Who are you talking to and why the hell were you sitting in the snow getting drunk again?"

"I'm just talking to our brother again," Bobby replied as he turned to look at Jack one last time and watched as he disappeared, then looked back at the rest of his family again. "I'm trying to say goodbye, but I think we're all going to be alright again."

"Mom always knew we would be," Jeremiah answered as they paid their respects and placed flowers down in front of both Jack's and their mother's gravestones, despite the harshness of the cold. "Let's go home."

The End


	27. Thank You

Thank you to all of those who have read and have written reviews for my stories! They are much appreciated. I'm honored to have you all for fans and I hope to hear from you all again in the future, should you choose to read and enjoy more of my work. Best of wishes to you all!

Sincerely,

Genevieve Kelly


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